Evelyn's Story:The Goblet of Fire
by GeekyLola
Summary: Evelyn Diggory, younger sister of Cedric Diggory, is starting her fourth year at Hogwarts with her three best friends Harry, Ron and Hermione. This year everything is going to change. Friendships will be tested, trust will be broken and hormones will run a muck. But when things become really serious will Evie and friends come out the other side okay? Or will everything fall apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own my OC

**AN: **Hello all, I just wanted to warned everybody that between Chapter 2-4 follow too close to canon, but I started to find my balance around chapter 5 and it has gotten better from there. I will be going through and changing things up, but until then just bare with me.

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><p>Flashes, that's all they were. Flashes of a horrible thing that made no sense, and yet just enough for her to understand an old man had died. Evie sat up with a start. A cold sweat was forming on her forehead. The nightmare meant nothing to her; she had never seen the house before but it was very old and very desolate. An old man she had never seen before was also present in the dream, and Wormtail. He was with a snake, and the old man died. That was all she could make out. It was like no nightmare she'd ever had before. It truly scared her.<p>

Her birth mark was stinging again, something that had started in her first year. It had since become a more normal occurrence. Though Evie still could not understand the reasoning behind it, she figured it had something to do with Voldemort. It was the only explanation she had, as it had not started until the moment she first laid eyes on him.

It was late in the summer after Evie's third year at Hogwarts. Last year so many things had changed and yet everything had stayed the same. Every time she thought about the end of the year, Evie wished something could've changed. She wished they could've saved Sirius Black without making him a fugitive. She wished Peter Pettigrew had been brought to justice for his betrayal of Harry's parents. But she knew no matter how hard she wished there was nothing they could change.

Evie sighed and looked out her bedroom window to see it was still dark. She knew she'd just dreamt of something very horrible, but the pictures and even the conversations in her head were so jumbled, none of it seemed intelligible. She wiped the sweat from her brow and turned on the lamp beside her bed. Her room lit up around her and Evie sighed in relief, having not realized that up until this moment she had feared she may be somewhere else.

The pain in her birth mark was still present and Evie got out of bed to go to her mirror. Lifting her shirt and pulling her pyjama pants down slightly, she studied the crescent shaped mark closely. It was slightly red, as though something had irritated it, but other than that it looked perfectly fine; it just hurt.

Evie let her shirt and pants fall back into place as her eyes travelled up to her face. Her hair was just as coffee brown as ever, though it was more of an owl's nest than the wavy confusion it usually was. A barely-there dusting of freckles had been slowly making itself more pronounced ever since her first year, and they danced across her nose in a carefree pattern. Her nose was small and turned up slightly at the end, but rounded out so it wasn't pointed and sharp looking. Her lips were pale and pink on her olive skin and they turned down at the ends so her mouth sat in a pout. The whole of her face was heart shaped, and her cheeks, though plump, had been thinning out a bit over the last few years. Evie finally came to rest on her eyes. They were the same warm syrup brown they had always been and they stared back at her, mirroring the confusion that still clouded her mind.

It was still late, or maybe it was so early the light hadn't even started to peak over the horizon. Evie rubbed her eyes and yawned. She wondered if she'd be able to sleep anymore after a dream like that. Sighing, she walked back over to her bed and picked up the book on her bedside table. It was another Sherlock Holmes novel, the last one in fact. Ever since Hermione had sent her one for Christmas she had loved the great detective and his loyal companion Watson. As she looked at the book she thought about her friends.

She wondered, as she often did during the summer, what Harry and Hermione were up to. She lived not too far from Ron and often walked to The Burrow to visit him during the day. His family had taken to her fairly quickly and she was always a welcomed guest. But Hermione and Harry spent their summers in the Muggle world. She had learned much about it from them both and even planned to visit Hermione one day, probably closer to the end of school when she would have the best control over her magic and would most likely not do anything to expose herself.

She imagined they'd all be sleeping about now, not troubled by any confusing or terrifying nightmares, although she wouldn't be surprised to find that Harry was from time to time considering everything that had happened. She wondered if she ought to write to Harry and Hermione about it. She wondered if she ought to tell Ron. But then she thought of what they'd all say.

Hermione would ask her if there was anything strange about her birthmark and then proceed to look it up in different books that may have some answers. If none presented themselves she might even suggest Evie go to Professor Dumbledore. Evie, however, couldn't imagine anything more pointless. She hadn't ever heard of anyone else having a birthmark like hers, certainly not one that randomly pained them. She also couldn't give Hermione any helpful answers about it. Her father, Amos, was so tight-lipped about her birth, mostly because it also resulted in her mother's death. Amos had never even taken Evie to her mother's grave.

Harry would probably think she was somehow like him, especially since his scar hurt him sometimes too. But his scar hurt usually when Voldemort was near and Evie couldn't think of a single way she or her birthmark could be like Harry. She hadn't been hit with any curses when she was a baby, at least not that she knew of. If she had, she was sure her father would've told her.

Ron would probably laugh it off as some weird girl problems and at that point Evie didn't think she could blame him. She was probably looking far too deep into both the nightmare and the aching birthmark. She would put it from her head.

Her decision made, Evie put the book back on her bedside table, turned off her lamp and rolled over. She only allowed herself to ponder the curiousness of her birthmark for a few more minutes before she drifted back to sleep.

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><p>The next morning Evie woke up to the sound of knocking on her room door. She grunted at the unwelcome alarm clock. Instead of leaving, her brother Cedric swung open her door and started speaking in an unnecessarily loud voice. "Good morning Evie! Isn't it a lovely day outside?" He pulled the curtains opened.<p>

"Ugh! Why are you this type of person?" Evie turned to glare at him from her bed.

"It's late and you're going to miss breakfast." He answered with a smile.

"So?" Evie grumbled. It was then that Cedric actually got a good look at her face and noticed the slight bags under her eyes.

"You alright?" He asked, looking concerned.

"I didn't sleep well." She answered, trying to wave it off, but also considering telling him about the weird nightmare and pain in her birthmark.

"Why not?"

"I had this dream…it's all sort of fuzzy now but, it was terrible. Woke me up in the middle of the night." She almost added the part about her birthmark but thought better of it. Not that it mattered.

"There's something you aren't telling me." Cedric said as he studied her face closely.

"It's not important." Evie tried to make him drop it, but when Cedric continued to look at her expectantly she sighed. "My birthmark hurt. It was stinging when I woke up and it looked irritated, like a bit red."

"That's unusual, isn't it?"

Evie paused for a moment. "Yeah, it is. I don't know what to make of it." She lied to him. It gave her a weird feeling in her stomach.

"Alright, well, you probably just slept on it funny. Come on before breakfast gets cold." Cedric got up and left the room and Evie dressed quickly before heading down.

Downstairs Evie was greeted by her father and Cedric. A plate already sat in front of her chair and it had been filled with her usual breakfast food. "Good morning dad." Evie smiled as she sat.

"Good morning Evie, glad you finally made it down." Amos teased. His plate was nearly empty at that point. "Hurry and eat, I have a surprise for you both before I head off to work."

Evie looked up to see a twinkle in her dad's eye. The sort of twinkle that was a bit childlike and full of excitement. She immediately dug in to her breakfast, almost sure she knew what he was going to say and not wanting to wait any longer than she had to for confirmation.

After breakfast, Amos walked into the living room and began to pull on his cloak, slowly getting himself ready to head to work. "Dad?" Evie said as she watched him button up.

"Hmm?" Amos looked at her and she immediately knew he was doing it on purpose.

"Dad!" She cried.

"Alright, alright." Amos laughed heartily. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four tickets.

"You got tickets?" Cedric asked excitedly, reaching out and grabbing them to see if they are real.

"I did!" Amos stated proudly.

"I can't believe it! We're going to the World Cup!" Evie squealed. She hugged Amos excitedly as Cedric just stared at the tickets, beaming. "Wait, why are there four?" She realized suddenly.

"Well, I thought you might want to invite Miss. Granger as well."

"You really are the best!" Evie said excitedly.

"Alright, you lot. Behave while I'm gone." Amos straightened his robes with pride. He grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. "Ministry of Magic." He called and disappeared in a flash of green flames.

Evie immediately ran back upstairs for her wand and penned a quick letter to Hermione, as well. When she came down, she sent the letter off with the family owl Bernard and grabbed her shoes, tossing them on quickly.

"Oi! Where are you going?" Cedric asked as she opened the door.

"The Burrow, I've got to tell Ron and see if they got tickets." Evie smiled and ran out the door towards the Weasley house.


	2. Chapter 2

Evie rushed over to The Burrow, smiling the whole way. When she got there she could see Mrs. Weasley bustling around the kitchen from the window. She walked through the back garden and into the house.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley." She greeted brightly.

"Evie, dear, how are you?" Mrs. Weasley greeted with her usual sweet candor.

"Great! How are you this morning?"

"Wonderful. Ron is upstairs; he's writing a letter to Harry."

"Have you got tickets then?" Evie perked up.

"We have! Arthur managed one for Harry too. We've sent word to his aunt and uncle to see if he can come." Evie frowned worriedly at this. "We'll get him no matter what they say, don't you worry about that." Mrs. Weasley put on her mothering face. "But I thought it best we ask their permission anyway. Don't want to seem completely rude, might come back on Harry, the poor dear. Anyway, we've offered to keep him the rest of the summer and see him to the train as well, that ought to sway them in our favor." She nodded, having thought this through quite a bit.

"Excellent! I can't wait to tell Ron dad managed to get a ticket for Hermione too, so we'll all be able to go together. I hope she says she can come." Evie said, thinking only in this moment that Hermione might already have plans for the rest of her summer, though Evie was sure she'd mentioned the World Cup and the possibility of them all going. "I'm going to tell Ron." Evie waved to Molly as she headed for the stairs.

On her way up she ran into Percy. "Hello, Evie."

"Hello Percy, how are you?"

"Good! Work is going swimmingly. Do you know –"

"Percy?" Evie cut him off quickly before he began a long tirade about his job at the Ministry. "I'd love to hear all about it later, but I'm actually in a bit of a rush to see Ron." She smiled apologetically, though she really wasn't sorry.

"Right, later then." Percy smiled. Probably because she hadn't completely shut him down like she was sure everyone else at The Burrow did.

Without knocking Evie walked into Ron's room. "Ron!" She greeted him excitedly. "I heard you got tickets, we've got tickets too!"

She finished this statement just in time to be attacked by a feathered ball. "OUCH!" She yelped and ducked for cover. "What is that thing?"

"That's my new owl, Pig. I've got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, but he's mine at least."

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, I think he just gets excited." Ron shrugged. "You got tickets? That's wicked!"

"Yeah. I heard you were going to get Harry." Evie answered, keeping an eye out for the feathered ball of energy that kept zooming around the room.

"Yeah, five o'clock tomorrow." Ron smiled. "Is Hermione coming?"

"I've just owled her with the news a bit ago, I invited her to stay the rest of the summer as well. Your mum told me Harry was staying with you the rest of the summer as well." Just as she finished this sentence, she saw Bernard heading for Ron's window. "That was fast." Evie opened the window to let Bernard in. She unhooked Hermione's letter from his leg and he flew off towards home. Evie read over Hermione's letter. "She's coming tomorrow! She says she's really excited and she can't wait to see us." Evie smiled.

"I'll tell Harry." Ron added to his letter. "So, have you seen Percy?"

"I've just passed him on the stairs, actually. He almost started on his work tirade; I had to stop him before I got stuck there." Evie joked.

"He's unbearable." Ron groaned. "I'd better warn Harry about that too." He finished the letter and tried to get Pig's attention. "Come here!" Finally Pig listened and received the letter. "Take this to Harry, Harry Potter." Ron said carefully. Pig flew off at the speed of light the second the letter was secure.

"You think it'll make it?" Evie watched the small owl go.

"He's got a better chance than Errol now." Ron sighed.

"How are you going to get him?"

"We'll floo."

"Can you do that?"

"Yeah, dad will get special permission to open their house for a bit to get him."

"No, I just meant, is that the best idea? Do you think the Muggles will be okay with that?"

"Yeah, why not? They don't want people to see us, right?"

"No, I suppose they don't." Evie bit her lip, unsure of how that will go over. "Well, what were you planning to do today?"

"D'know, but I'll bet Fred and George have something in mind." Ron asked as they exited his room.

They began to descend the steps together and ran into Ginny.

"Hello, Evie. Mum said you were here." Ginny greeted her fondly.

"Hey, Gin. How are you?" Evie smiled back.

"Alright, did you meet Ron's new owl?"

"Yeah, a bit different, isn't he?" Evie raised an eyebrow.

"I think he's cute." Ginny smiled.

"That's because he doesn't live in your room." Ron grumbled.

"How'd he get the name Pig anyway?" Evie cut in, wondering as the pain in her head finally subsided.

"I named him. It's short for Pigwidgeon."

"That's sort of cute and fitting." Evie laughed. Ron just looked annoyed.

"I've tried to change it. Stupid thing won't answer to anything else anymore." Evie laughed harder at this.

"S'not funny." Ron mumbled.

"Sorry, Ron, but it is sort of funny."

"Evie, are you going to the World Cup?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, dad just surprised us with tickets today!" She smiled, excited once again.

"That's brilliant!" Ginny became equally excited.

Evie always felt that Ginny enjoyed having her around because it was more females in a male dominated house. Also, Evie was really helpful when Ginny needed to get Ron off her back or something. They a special, sisterly understanding. Ginny could come to Evie about her boy problems and Evie was always there to help her out. Plus, they only lived a giant field apart from each other, so she was never too far away. Even during breaks.

"So, where are you two headed?"

"We were going to see what Fred and George are doing." Evie answered.

"That sounds like a dangerous idea." Ginny said.

Finding Fred and George turned out to indeed be a bad idea. The day ended with Evie's hair turned green. Luckily for her Fred and George knew how to reverse it. Evie had been the guinea pig for one or two of Fred and George's newest main interest. A business venture called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, something Evie had forgotten about in her excitement over World Cup tickets. They planned to one day open their own joke shop in Diagon Alley. Evie had to admit, though the twins were not passionate about learning things in school, they were incredibly talented wizards, coming up with things she had never thought of…and perhaps a few she gave them the idea for. She had no doubt they would succeed. However, she was not always a willing tester of their products, and those days were the ones she was not particularly feeling supportive. It was for that very reason that not long after her hair was once again brown she decided to go home, having had enough excitement for one day.

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><p>The next morning Evie woke up well rested, and nightmare free. She showered and dressed quickly, and went downstairs for breakfast. It was her father's day off, which meant he would be sleeping in and Evie and Cedric were on their own for breakfast. Evie made herself some oatmeal and tea then sat at the table reading her book and enjoying a quiet breakfast.<p>

"Morning." Cedric greeted, as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning." Evie greeted in return, setting her book down.

"You didn't make enough for two?" Cedric turned to her looking indignant as she continued to eat her oatmeal.

"I didn't know you'd be up so early. Also I did make enough tea for two so I didn't completely forget you." She defended.

"Well, thanks." Cedric turned to make himself a cuppa. He began to make himself some oatmeal as well. "How did you sleep?"

"Well, how about you?" Evie answered calmly, though she knew he was thinking of their talk the morning before.

"Quite well, thanks. And…your birthmark?"

"Normal, as usual." Evie raised an eyebrow to her brother's back. "Cedric…what are you thinking?"

"Nothing…"

"You're lying to me."

"I just, every now and then I think back in what I remember of mum."

"So?" Evie had not been prepared for the conversation to turn this way.

"So, I can picture her face well enough. I can picture some of my last memories of her. And I can't seem to picture her pre –"

"Good morning!" Their father burst into the room, more chipper and loud than normal.

"Morning dad." Evie answered.

"Morning." Cedric did as well. He turned to look at Evie in a way she had never seen before. "Would you like some oatmeal?"

"Yes, sounds wonderful." Amos smiled and patted Cedric on the shoulder. "Evie, what time is Miss. Granger supposed to be coming today?"

"In the afternoon. Thanks for getting her a ticket, and letting her stay the rest of the summer." Evie smiled.

"Not at all. It's only two weeks, and the World Cup doesn't come to England every year, does it?" Amos smiled back.

This was definitely true. In fact, the Quidditch World Cup had not been in England in thirty years. It was also not easy to get tickets to the final. This was a very rare opportunity.

The family ate breakfast with easy and comfortable conversation flowing between them, mostly excitement about the World Cup final.

After breakfast Amos set the dishes to washing themselves and Cedric and Evie retired to their rooms. About an hour reading Evie heard a knock on her door.

"Yes?" She called.

Cedric entered and sat in the chair next to her desk. He turned it around and pulled it towards her. "Hey."

"Hey."

"I've just been thinking."

"That's always dangerous." Evie teased.

"Shut it." Cedric gave her a warning look.

"Sorry, continue."

"I think I'm going to ask Cho Chang to be my girlfriend."

"Really? Well, isn't that something." Evie smiled.

"D'you think she'll say yes?"

"Are you kidding? She's only fancied you forever." Evie laughed.

"How d'you know?"

"She blushes every time she sees you, goes out of her way to talk to you, and she laughs at your jokes, which really are never funny." Evie explained.

"My jokes are funny!" Cedric looked at her with mock insult.

"Not really, no." Evie gave him a slightly apologetic smile. "But she still laughs, that's the point. I laugh because they are either so bad I can't help myself or because I'm worried nobody else will and you're my brother. I can't let you die like that. She laughs because that's what girls do for boys they fancy." Evie gave him a knowing look.

Cedric sat there for a moment, just thinking. "When did you get so smart?" He joked.

"I've always been smarter than you. You've just got such a big ego you refuse to admit it." Evie smiled.

"Evie! Ron is here." Amos called from down the stairs.

Evie hopped up and walked from her room, turning around to add one last thing. "She'll say yes, just be yourself." She then rushed down the stairs. "Hello, Ron!" She smiled as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, is Hermione here yet?"

"No, not yet. She won't be here for a few more hours. She lives a bit away."

"Oh." Ron sighed. "I found out after you left yesterday that the Muggles said yes to Harry staying with us. We won't have to break him out again." Ron half jokingly referred to the summer before second year when he and the twins stole Mr. Weasley's flying Ford Angelina to rescue Harry from the Dursleys who had put bars on his windows.

"Well, at least they're being reasonable this time." Evie nodded. She looked at the clock in the kitchen and realized how late it had gotten. "It's already after two." She remarked.

"Yes, and I've got to go into Diagon Alley today. Would like to go with me?" Amos cut in.

"I think I'll wait here for Hermione, just in case she gets here earlier than expected." Evie answered.

"I'll go with you, dad. I've got to get something for someone anyway." Cedric said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh? Is it for anyone in particular?" Evie grinned, eyeing her brother knowingly.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes." Cedric grinned back.

"Quite classy, to get her a gift." Evie commented with her approval.

"Alright, are you ready now?" Amos asked Cedric.

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's go. Behave while we're gone." Amos gave Evie a pointed look.

"We will." She smiled. Amos didn't particularly like her friendship with Harry and Ron. He had seen the Weasley twins around a bit and felt it was Ron and Harry's fault Evie's first few years at Hogwarts had been so dangerous. But he also knew he had no way of stopping her friendship with the two boys, so instead he had settled for making disapproving faces every time Ron showed up at the Diggory cottage, which was part of the reason Evie made it a habit of going to The Burrow.

As they walked into the living room Evie distinctly heard her dad ask, "Who is this girl you're getting a gift for?" Then he and Cedric flooed off.

Ron and Evie hung out the entire time Cedric and Amos were in Diagon Alley. They mostly played Wizard's Chess. Each year Evie got closer to beating Ron, and at some point he started changing up his game to throw her off. It usually worked. She had only ever beaten him once.

"Ugh!" Evie lamented as she lost yet another match.

"Maybe we should quit for the day." Ron smiled as they reset the board again.

"I was close that time!" Evie defended.

Before Ron could respond the fireplace roared to life and Cedric and Amos walked through one after the other.

"Is this what you've been doing this whole time?" Cedric laughed as he noticed them in the corner of the living room where the chess set is.

"Yeah." Ron grinned.

"I take it you've been taking her down a peg then?" Cedric smiled.

"I almost won the last match." Evie repeated.

"It's getting late. Shouldn't you head home? Evie said you were getting Harry at five." Cedric asked Ron as he noticed the time.

Both Ron and Evie looked up at the clock to see it was nearly five. "Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed.

"Language!" Amos chastised.

"Sorry, Mr. Diggory. See you Evie; don't forget to bring Hermione by when she gets here." Ron rushed out the kitchen door and across the field towards The Burrow.

An hour later there was a knock on the front door.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Hey guys, I know some of you might recognize this character from the previous story I tried to write. I hope you all enjoy this one better as I like it much better than the previous one, and all my ideas were always further into the series anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Evie jumped up quickly and rushed to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by the bushy brown hair and large smile of her best friend Hermione Granger. "Hello, Hermione!" she greeted happily.

"Hello, Evie!" Hermione smiled in return. Behind her were her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Both were dentists, something Evie had come to know as Muggle teeth Healers. She found the very idea absolutely fascinating, Healers for teeth.

"Nice to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Would you like to come in?" Evie stepped out of the way to let the Granger family in. They greeted her politely in turn and walked inside, Mr. Granger carried Hermione's school trunk with him. It sounded quite heavy. Mr. and Mrs. Granger were looking around curiously. Evie was sure they hadn't ever really seen a wizarding home. She imagined she would be staring the same in their home.

"Hello." Amos greeted behind her, coming over to shake Mr. and Mrs. Granger's hands. Amos and the Grangers were fairly familiar with each other. They often stood in the background as their daughters ran off to purchase their school books. Their conversation was always polite, if a bit stiff, as they themselves probably did not consider each other to be friends exactly.

Amos directed Mr. Granger to the guest room so he could put Hermione's trunk down. Then Hermione's parents said their goodbyes, as they had a long drive back ahead of them.

After they left, Evie took Hermione up to the guest room to show her where she'd be sleeping. The guest room at the Diggory cottage was rarely used. It was neutral in color, cream and beige for the most part. "Right, so my room is just there at the end of the hall. So we'll be really close. The toilet is just across the hall. Cedric's room is the door right next to it and dad's is right next to yours. You can let Crookshanks out, if you want. Bernard and Noel hunt during the day when they've got nothing to do, so he won't be a threat to anyone. Just be sure to bring him back in the room at night so he doesn't wander into Cedric's room and find Noel." Evie explained as they stood in the doorway of the guest room.

"Right, well, what should we do now?" Hermione asked looking a bit excited as she set Crookshanks loose on the house.

"Well…oh! Harry should be at The Burrow by now. Let's head over there and say hello." Evie suggested, as she remembered the time.

The two girls rushed down the stairs and towards the back door, only to be called back by Amos.

"Where are you girls off to?" He asked as he eyed them from the living room.

"The Burrow, Harry should be there now and we wanted to say hi." Evie explained.

"Alright, but don't be too late." Amos ordered.

"We won't." Evie called as she had already opened the door and way half way outside. They rushed across the wide field and into the Weasley's kitchen. "Hello?" Evie called.

"Hello, Evie, who is this?" Two red headed young men sat at the table. One was short and stocky, with a broad smiling face and short curly hair. He had light scars and burns on his arms and his face was so freckled it almost looked tan. The other, the one who had spoken, was thin and lanky like Ron. His hair was long and worn in a ponytail. He wore a fang earring and dragon hide boots and his freckles were much more tamed than his brother's.

"Hello Bill. Hello Charlie, sorry I didn't see you there." Evie walked over to the two oldest Weasley boys smiling brightly. She had met them for the first time earlier in the summer. They too had come for the World Cup. "This is Hermione; she's only just arrived this afternoon." Evie motioned to Hermione who came up to shake both Weasleys' hands. "Hermione, this is Charlie." Evie introduced as Hermione shook the hand of the stockier boy. "And this is Bill." Hermione shook the other boy's hand.

"It's nice to meet you both, Ron has told me so much about you." Hermione greeted politely.

"You don't have to be formal with them, Hermione. It's not like talking to Percy." Evie joked, winking at the two boys who laughed.

"She's right; I get enough of the stuffy talk at work." Bill confirmed.

"And I work with dragons so any conversation that doesn't end in me nearly dying is considered polite." Charlie added with a laugh. This loosened Hermione up fairly quickly.

"Are they back with Harry yet?" Evie asked, looking around.

"Oh, we aren't enough for you?" Bill pulled a mock hurt face.

"That's clearly something Fred and George learned from you." Evie commented looking at him. "They're rubbish at it too." She added, causing both Hermione and Charlie to laugh.

"They've only just gone a little bit ago actually." Charlie answered Evie's question.

"Have they? I thought they were supposed to be getting him at five." Evie checked the clock, then remembered, as it always took her a minute to, that the Weasley clock doesn't show time; it instead showed the location of each of the Weasleys.

"They left late; Dad had to get the floo set up with his connection in the Ministry." Bill answered and Evie nodded her understanding.

"They flooed to get him?" Hermione asked. Evie, Bill and Charlie all nodded. "Did they ask Harry's aunt and uncle if that was okay?"

"I asked the same question!" Evie blurted out. "Ron said there was no reason they shouldn't be okay with it."

"Hello Evie, and Hermione dear, so good to see you!" Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen at that moment. "Would you like to come into the living room with Ginny and me while you wait for Arthur and the boys to get back?" She walked over and hugged Hermione before ushering the two girls into the living room.

When they entered, Ginny was no longer in the room. "Where did that girl get to?" Mrs. Weasley wondered out loud. She started up the stairs and having nothing else to do Evie and Hermione followed her.

They found Ginny in her room, brushing her hair. Evie and Hermione had to smile because they knew why she was doing it. Poor Ginny just blushed when she realized she'd been caught. "Hello Hermione." Ginny smiled.

"Hello, Ginny. It's good to see you." Hermione's knowing smile stayed planted on her face.

"Your hair looks lovely, Gin." Evie commented, trying to sound offhanded, but failing a bit she imagined.

Just then a commotion could be heard from the kitchen, and it sounded like Mr. Weasley was yelling. "Oh, what's happened now?" Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips and rushed past Evie and Hermione, heading down the stairs. The three girls followed quickly behind her, eager to see what was happening.

"That's not the point!" Mr. Weasley was fussing. "Wait until I tell your mother –"

"Tell me what Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley and the girls reached the kitchen just in time to hear this part of the conversation clearly.

In the little bit of time they had been gone, the kitchen in The Burrow had filled quickly with gingers and one messy raven haired boy.

"Oh, hello, Harry dear." Mrs. Weasley's voice instantly cheered up when she spotted him. She then rounded back to Mr. Weasley. "Tell me what, Arthur?"

Evie could see from Mr. Weasley's face that he had probably not actually intended for his wife to hear anything that had happened while they were off getting Harry from the Dursleys. They all watched in silence as Mr. Weasley eyed his wife nervously, trying to figure out what to do.

"It's nothing Molly," Mr. Weasley mumbled. "Fred and George just – but I've had words with them – "

"What have they done this time?" Mrs. Weasley cut in. "if it's got anything to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes –"

"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping Ron?" Evie cut in quickly.

"Harry knows where he's sleeping," Ron looked at her confused. "In my room, he slept there last –"

"We can all go." Hermione eyed him pointedly, understanding what Eve was doing much quicker than Ron.

"Oh," said Ron as he began to get it too. "Right."

"We'll go too." Said George.

"You stay right where you are." Mrs. Weasley snapped.

Harry and Ron eased out of the kitchen and then the five of them walked up towards Ron's room.

"What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked. Ron, Evie and Ginny all started laughing. Hermione just looked as confused as Harry.

"Fred and George are going to open a joke shop." Evie started the explanation. "They've been working on things all summer."

"Brilliant things they've invented. Joke things, you know. Fake wands, trick sweets, loads of things. We didn't know they were even inventing…"Ron added.

"We always heard explosions coming from their room, but we never thought they were actually making anything. We just thought they liked the noise." Ginny continued.

"Anyway, earlier this summer Mrs. Weasley was cleaning out their room and she found a long list of priced items, all the things they had invented." Evie picked back up.

"And the thing is most of the things they've invented – well, all of them really – are dangerous. They were going to sell them at Hogwarts this year to make some money. Mum went mad at them. She burned al the order forms and told them they weren't allowed to make anymore of those things. She's furious at them now. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected." Ron said.

"And then there was this big row," Ginny said looking serious. "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open the joke shop."

"I was here for that…it was really bad. I've never seen Mrs. Weasley so upset, or the twins for that matter." Evie shuttered at the memory.

As the shouting from down below flowed up towards them Evie realized she still didn't know what exactly Fred and George were being yelled at for this time.

"So, what did they do?" She asked Ron and Harry, pointing down towards the argument that was clearly taking place.

"Oh, that was brilliant!" Ron instantly perked up. "They dropped a toffee with an Engorgement Charm on it on the floor. They figured Harry's cousin would go right for it after Harry told us of the diet he was on."

"He did too! His longing for sweets apparently outweighed his fear of magic." Harry laughed, clearly remembering the image of his cousin's engorged tongue.

"That's brilliant!" Evie said at the same time Hermione said, "That's terrible!"

They looked at each other for a moment. Hermione was clearly appalled that Evie was enjoying the idea so much.

"Oh, come on Hermione." Evie defended. "You know how they treat Harry! Besides, they didn't offer it to him, if you ask me that's what he gets for being such a pig. OUCH!" They had finally reached Ron's room, and apparently she had chosen the wrong time to say 'pig' as the obnoxious little owl thought she was calling him. Evie pushed him away with an annoyed look as she rubbed her head once again. "Not you, you little fur ball!"

Hermione laughed a bit at this. "That's what you get for being cruel." Evie stuck her tongue out at her friend, though even she couldn't help but admit it seemed a bit karmic. Harry and Ron were also smiling at the situation.

"In the cage Pig." Ron ordered before locking the small owl up. "Fred and George are up here with us, because Bill and Charlie have got their room. Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he's got to work."

"Why d'you call it Pig?" Harry asked.

"Because he's being stupid. Its proper name is Pigwidgeon." Ginny answered.

"Right, because that's not a stupid name." Ron rolled his eyes. "I've tried to change but it's too late. So now it's Pig."

"Where's Crookshanks?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Running around my house, I'd suppose." Evie answered instead.

"You guys aren't going to be staying here as well?"

"I live right across the field, remember? Plus it's far too crowded here. We'll be here every day anyway, so you won't even notice the difference."

"Have you had a good summer, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Did you get our food parcels and everything?"

"Yeah, thanks a lot," said Harry. "They saved my life, those cakes."

"And have you heard from –" Ron began, but with one look from Hermione he stopped. The four friends knew Ron had almost asked about Sirius in front of Ginny, which was a bad idea because only they and Professor Dumbledore knew about their involvement in his escape.

"I think they've stopped arguing." Evie said to cover up the uncomfortable moment beginning to fill the space of Ron's room. Ginny was looking between Harry and Ron and she was also desperate to attract Ginny's attention elsewhere. "Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Sorry about the wait, I am currently writing two stories at once. I know I'm crazy. Hope everyone is enjoying this and I'll be sure to update quicker next time. Also, things are about t get really interesting really soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Mrs. Weasley was in quite a state still when they entered the kitchen. She was fussing to herself about Fred and George. Evie was happy she quickly set them to work setting plates in the garden where they were having dinner that night.

When they got outside there was a loud banging coming from the garden. They turned into it to find Bill and Charlie floating tables around in the air. They were banging them into each other, both trying to knock the other's table from the air. Fred and George were outside as well, they were cheering as they watch the table smack down. Evie couldn't help but laugh as she watched the two oldest Weasley's go at it with tables. Ginny was laughing on one side of her, and Hermione was on the other, slowly backing herself against the garden fence, looking somewhere between amused and anxious.

"It's alright, Hermione. They know what they're doing." Evie smiled as she continued to watch. Harry and Ron came around the side of the house a few minutes later carrying cutlery. Just as they took in the scene in front of them Bill knocked the leg off of Charlie's table. There was a clatter above them and Percy popped his head out of his room window.

"Will you keep it down!?" He bellowed.

"Sorry, Perce." Bill said, grinning. "How are the cauldron bottoms coming?"

"Very badly." Said Percy, peevishly, then he slammed the window again.

After that, Bill and Charlie set the tables right and Bill conjured a tablecloth out of thin air and placed it over them. Before long dinner was ready and the tables were groaning under the weight of all the food. Evie sat at one end of the table, next to Harry and across from Ron and Hermione.

Down at the other end of the table sat Percy and Mr. Weasley. Percy was quite possibly boring the pants off his father as he talked relentlessly about Mr. Crouch, his new boss in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. He also made a point of looking down to their end of the table when he mentioned the 'other big project' his department had to get ready for. Evie still couldn't understand why Percy wanted them to ask what other 'top secret' thing his department was working on, as it could not possibly have anything to do with them. But she brushed it off as Percy just wanting them to think he does something cool for a living. Unfortunately all his talk of cauldrons of varying thicknesses had thoroughly cemented in their minds that he did the least cool thing it was possible to do at the Ministry.

Towards the middle of the table Mrs. Weasley sat fussing over Bill's earring, which happened to be a new feature to his rock star look. "…with a horrible great fang on it. Really, Bill, what do they sat at the bank?"

"Mum, no one at the bank give a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure." Said Bill patiently.

"And your hair is getting silly, dear," Mrs. Weasley continued as she lovingly twirled her wand in her hands. "I wish you'd let me trim it."

"I like it." Ginny said from the other side of Bill. "You're so old fashioned Mum. Besides it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's…" Evie smiled at this bit of conversation. She loved to listen to Mrs. Weasley fuss over her children; it was a feature her house missed sorely, even though her dad did a wonderful job filling the void.

Across the table from Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Ginny sat Fred, George and Charlie. They were talking excitedly about the World Cup.

"It's going to be Ireland." Said Charlie through a mouthful of potato. "They flattened Peru in the Semifinals."

"But Bulgaria's got Viktor Krum." Fred stated.

This is where Evie had to come in. "Oh, come off it Fred." This gained her the attention of all three boys and also Harry who seemed in desperate need of some Quidditch news. "Krum's a decent player, to be sure, but he can't win the game himself. Bulgaria is relying too much on him."

"She's right." Charlie added, pointing to Evie with an approving smile. "Krum's one decent player, but Ireland's got seven. I do wish England had gone through. That was embarrassing, that was."

"What happened?" Harry asked eagerly from Evie's other side.

"They had their bums handed to them by Transylvania." Lamented Evie. "Three hundred and ninety to ten!"

"Shocking performance." Charlie added gloomily. "And Wales lost to Uganda. And Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

As the light left the sky Mr. Weasley conjured up candles to light the garden. Dinner was finished and they sat around eating homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert until moths began to fly lazily around the table and the air filled with the perfume of summer, grass and honeysuckle. Evie sat in the peaceful stupor a full belly often provided as the distance laughter of garden gnomes drifted through her ears. This was as much home to her as her own little cottage sitting just across the great field.

"So – have you heard from Sirius lately?" Ron asked Harry quietly, and Evie instantly pulled herself to attention for the answer.

"Yes," Harry answered just as quietly. "twice. He sounds okay. I wrote to him yesterday. He might write back while I'm here."

"Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, looking at her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you – you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."

"Wow – I hope it does this time!" Harry says excitedly.

"Well, I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung it in again, eh Perce?" said Fred.

"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" Said Percy, going red in the face. "It wasn't personal!"

"It was," Fred whispered to Harry as the group got up from the table. "We sent it."

Evie laughed all over again as she and Hermione said goodnight to the Weasley's and headed back across the field to her house.

* * *

><p>The next morning, when Amos knocked on her door to rouse her, Evie found that she hadn't had nearly the amount of sleep she preferred. It was still dark out and though she knew where they were going, she was still not happy to be up so early. She slowly shuffled herself from bed to wardrobe as she tried to open her eyes enough to actually see what she was grabbing.<p>

She could hear the equally sluggish movements from the rooms next to her and was glad to find that she wasn't the only one almost too exhausted to move. Yawning and rubbing her eyes free of the crumbly bits in their corners, Evie opened her eyes wide and stared at her clothes. She knew she was not to wear any robes, so Muggles didn't notice anything odd. She grabbed some jeans and a teal jumper and dressed as quickly as she could manage.

After she dressed Evie was glad she had packed her rucksack the night before, seeing as she didn't have the mental capacity to figure out what she might need this early in the morning. Grabbing the bag she made her way down the stairs, if a bit clumsily.

In the kitchen Amos was stirring oatmeal on the stove. Cedric was sitting in his usual seat, seemingly unaffected by how early it was. As Evie took her seat Hermione made her way down the stairs. She looked pale and drowsy and her hair was particularly unruly. Evie imagined she looked much the same as her friend.

As Amos started ladling oatmeal into bowls and handing them out, he smiled at the two girls. "I told you not to be out too late. You knew we were heading out early."

"We didn't plan on being out that late." Evie grumbled sulkily as both her father and brother grinned at her grumpiness.

"Well I slept wonderfully." Cedric teased.

"Oh, shut it." Evie snapped, with minimal energy. Amos handed her a bowl and tried to hold back his smile. As she ate, Evie's mood improved exponentially. Breakfast was a mostly quiet affair, as the sleep was just leaving Evie and Hermione. Most of the conversation was between Amos and Cedric as they speculated on who would win the Cup.

When breakfast was over Amos cleaned the dishes and locked down the house. Then the Diggorys and Hermione began the trek to Stoatshead Hill, which was the designated Portkey spot closest to them. Portkeys were objects used to transport wizards from one place to another at a prearranged time, which was why they had to be up early.

They walked through the town of Ottery St. Catchpole is darkness, Evie was surprised they didn't run into Harry and the Weasleys on the way. The dark sky made it hard to see as they trekked up the hill. Nobody spoke as the climb was a tough one. Evie and Hermione fell behind Amos and Cedric as they continued on. Just when Evie had tripped over her last rabbit hole and was about to claim defeat, the ground leveled off and she was thankful to see they reached the top.

"Alright, spread out and look for it." Amos requested of the group. He and Cedric started off immediately.

"What are we looking for?" Hermione asked Evie was they started off together.

"Well, technically I'm not sure. But Portkey's are usually things Muggles would consider litter, things they wouldn't want to pick up and take home. It'll be decently small, also. Not really my favorite way to travel to be honest with you. I was never very good at it." Evie shrugged.

As they continued to look the sky began to lighten and the distant sound of footsteps began to reach their ears. "That must be Ron and Harry." Hermione commented.

"Yeah, maybe we should go say good morning." Evie suggested, mostly because she didn't feel like searching for the portkey anymore. Hermione nodded and they searched their way to the direction of the footsteps they had heard. They kept looking as they went and before they reached Harry and Ron they heard Amos call out to the group.

"Over here, I've got it!" They immediately turned in the direction of her father instead. They found him and Cedric in a clearing. Amos was holding a dirty old boot in his hand. As they walked over the Weasleys and Harry all started to appear in the clearing as well. "Hello Arthur!" Her dad greeted Mr. Weasley.

"Amos!" Mr. Weasley smiled as he strolled over and shook his hand.

"Good morning." Evie smiled to the group. Hermione and Cedric greeted them as well. Fred and George didn't say much to Cedric, they seemed to still be a bit sore that Hufflepuff had beaten Gryffindor in their first game last year. It didn't sit too well with Cedric either, as Harry had been attacked by Dementors and fallen off his broom. Cedric had tried to have the game negated and forced into a rematch, but Oliver Wood, Gryffindor's team captain had let the decision stand.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Amos made friendly conversation.

"Only a bit longer than yours, eh?"

"Yeah, didn't know if these old legs were going to make it. I can't wait until these two have passed their Apparition test. Still, not complaining…don't want Evie growing up too soon, plus it's the Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sack full of Galleons – and the tickets cost about that. Though it seems I got off easy." Amos peered good-naturedly at the group behind Mr. Weasley. "These aren't all yours are they Arthur?" He looked pointedly at Harry, the only non-ginger of the group.

"Oh, you know they aren't." Arthur waved off the teasing question. "You know Ron, of course. That's the twins, Fred and George. My only girl, Ginny. And Harry."

"Oh, that's right, Harry you've never met my dad have you?" Evie jumped at the realization. "Dad this is Harry, Harry, this is my dad." She introduced them.

"The Harry Potter?" Amos looked slightly amazed, as though he hadn't ever expected to actually meet Harry.

"Err…yeah. Hello." Harry looked as uncomfortable as he usually did when people realized who he was.

"Evie's talked about you, of course. Ced has too. Told me all about playing against you last year…I said to him, I said – Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will…You beat Harry Potter!" Amos was beaming with pride. Fred and George glared harder, Cedric looked a bit embarrassed, and Evie was fully mortified.

"Dad!" She gasped, trying to stop the conversation from going any further. She couldn't understand how he could be so tactless. He wasn't usually this bad; it was almost as if he were trying.

"Harry fell off his broom Dad…I told you it was an accident…" Cedric tried to fix the situation.

"Yes, but you didn't fall off your broom did you?" Amos roared, slapping Cedric on the back. "Always modest, Ced is, always the gentleman. But the best man won! I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to figure out who the better flier is!" Evie's face was positively scarlet by this point.

"Must be nearly time," Mr. Weasley said, pulling out his watch again. "Do you know if we're waiting for anymore Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there a week now, and the Fawcetts couldn't afford tickets." Amos answered. "There aren't any more of us in the area, are there?"

"Not that I know of," Mr. Weasley said. "Yes, it's a minute off…We'd better get ready…"

Evie stood close to Cedric to make room for everyone, and placed her first two fingers on the boot. She then motioned Harry and Hermione to follow. "You've just got to touch it, even one finger will do." She explained to them as they followed her lead.

It was a tight fit, with all the full bags they carried. "It's not a great feeling." Evie added the warning to her two friends.

"Three…" muttered Mr. Weasley, one eye still on his watch, "two…one…"

The feeling she dreaded was immediate, as usual. Like something was pulling her by the navel up and away from the ground. Hermione was on one side of her and Cedric was on the other. Their shoulders all banged into each other and she closed her eyes, never liking the swirl of colors and howl of wind that accompanied this mode of travel. Evie partially wanted to pull her finger away from the boot so it would stop, but she knew from her attempt the first time she had ever traveled this way that it wasn't possible. She was probably lucky it wasn't as she always jerked back a bit at the initial yanking, and who knows where she might end up, or what other unfortunate things would happen to her if she was ever able to.

Soon her feet slammed onto the ground again and her knees buckled under her, as they always did. Cedric was also used to this and reached out to grab her before she crumbled to the ground. It seemed as though, with the exception of Cedric, their father, and Mr. Weasley, everyone else ended up on the ground. Evie was happy to know she would not have been alone had she toppled. With Cedric's arm still holding hers firmly, Evie straightened herself up.

"Thanks." She smiled at her brother, gratefully. She held out a hand to Hermione and then patted her hair back into place before turning to catch her first view of the Quidditch World Cup grounds.


	5. Chapter 5

There wasn't much to look at, to be honest. Not in this area at least. They were in a deserted and misty moor. In front of them were two, haggard looking wizards. One holding a large gold pocket watch, and the other had a roll of parchment. It was quite clear neither of them knew much about Muggles, as the man with the watch wore a tweed suit and thigh-high galoshes and the man with the parchment wore a kilt and poncho. Evie found it hard not to laugh at this awkward sight.

Mr. Weasley greets the man in the kilt, who seemed to be passive aggressively angry about working instead of relaxing and enjoying the Cup. Mr. Weasley handed him the old boot, which went into a box filled with used Portkeys, soggy news papers and deflated footballs.

Basil, as Mr. Weasley had called the kilted man, checked his parchment to give them their fields. "Weasley…about a quarter mile walk that way. First field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory, second field…ask for Mr. Payne."

"Thanks Basil." Mr. Weasley smiled as he beckoned the group to follow him. They walked across the deserted moor together, hardly being able to see anything through the mist. They walked twenty minutes before the first cottage came into view. Behind it sat hundreds of tents and the ghostly shapes of hundreds of witches and wizards walking around the camp grounds. As they got closer to the cottage they separated.

"Hermione and I will come find you after we set up our tent." Evie said as they waved to the Weasleys and Harry and continued on towards the next cottage, some fifteen feet away.

"Are we sharing one tent?" Hermione turned to Evie looking a bit worried.

"Of course we are." Evie laughed. "Why on earth wouldn't we? We don't need that much room!" Evie stared at her friend incredulously. They continued on quietly until they came upon the cottage.

The man standing in front of it looked up with a smile as they walked towards him. "More campers?" He asked brightly.

"Yes, are you Mr. Payne?" Amos asked.

"I am! I must say this has been a good time for us. Don't usually get this many people reserving spots around here. Hardly even get this many people just showing up."

"Indeed? Well, all is usually well when business is good, eh?" Amos laughed.

"You got that right." Mr. Payne nodded. "You all here for something? I only ask because quite a few people here seem to know each other. Ah, well," Mr. Payne immediately waved the thought away. "What's the name, I've just remembered I haven't asked yet."

"Diggory, one tent." Amos answered.

"Ah, yes. There you are, just near the woods. You'll be paying no, I presume?" Mr. Payne looked expectantly at Amos.

"Right, of course." Amos pulled out a bit of Muggle money and looked at it for a bit. Evie and Hermione could tell he was struggling, so Hermione stepped forward.

Taking the money gently from Amos, Hermione smiled. "My cousins are from out of town, they're still getting the hang of the currency exchange." She smiled sweetly at the Mr. Payne. They exchanged the Muggle money easily and he presented them with a map of the camp grounds.

They walked along a long row of tents, but none were stirring inside, it was far too early for anyone who had been there to be awake. Many of the tents looked almost Muggle. Evie listened as Hermione pointed out the ones that had done a very good job looking like ordinary Muggle tents, and they both could tell some had not tried at all. The three story tents and the gardened tents and the tents which might as well be houses.

They were at the very end of the row. The last spot before the woods was empty, with a sigh hammered into the ground that read 'Diggery'. Evie saw the spelling and giggled. "Well, they were close." She smiled at her dad who was a bit grumpy at the misspelling.

"Well, in any case, we couldn't have gotten a better spot. The pitch is just on the other side of those woods!" Amos commented happily. "Well, we aren't allowed to use magic when we're out in these numbers so we'll have to put the tent up by hand. Ms. Granger, I believe this is your forte. Where ought we begin?" All three Diggorys turned to Hermione.

She walked them through setting up the tent, just as one would expect Hermione to. It was perfectly understandable and she sounded almost like a Hogwarts Professor as she spoke. When they were done, they stood back and proudly admired their handiwork.

"Yes, this should be perfect." Amos said as he crawled into the opening of their tent, which looked like an ordinary Muggle tent.

"Erm, Evie, this is going to be a rather tight fit, don't you think?" Hermione looked at her worriedly.

"Hermione, we have magic, remember?" Evie smiled, before following behind Cedric, who had just crawled into the tent.

Hermione followed behind Evie, and stopped. "Whoa." Inside the tent looked like a small two bedroom apartment. There was also a bathroom and kitchen.

"Told you we'd only need the one tent." Evie nudged Hermione teasingly. Hermione just looked at her and smiled.

"Alright, girls, you'll be in that room, and we lads will be just across the lounge in this room." Amos pointed Evie and Hermione to the room on the right and then headed towards the room on the left to set down his rucksack. "We were told we shouldn't be using the stove, but that using the bathroom in the tents will be alright, so we'll have to get water and wood for fight, because we'll be cooking the Muggle way." Amos sighed as he looked at the stove longingly. Everyone had just returned to the lounge after putting their stuff away.

"Hermione and I can go get water." Evie offered. "We'll look for Harry and Ron when we go." She added to Hermione quietly.

"Alright, Ced, you and I will go for fire wood. Ms. Granger, you wouldn't happen to know how to light a fire the Muggle way, would you?" Amos asked Hermione.

"Not unless someone brought matches." Hermione smiled apologetically.

"Right, well a little spark from the wand shouldn't cause too much trouble." Amos waved it off. Handing the girls a kettle and large pot from the kitchen he sent them off with the map of the camp site.

They found Harry and Ron before they found the water pump. They turned out to be only a few feet from each other.

"Not that far at all." Ron commented.

"About the length of a big field." Evie laughed.

As the four walked towards the water pump, their fellow witches and wizards began to awaken. A mother scolded her son for taking his father's wand to produce slugs. Two young girls, barely older the four were playing on toy brooms that rose off the ground just enough to let their toes skim the dewy grass. Poor Ministry officials spotting these acts of magic rushed around, trying to keep it from the Muggles. Older witches and wizards were emerging from their tents and beginning to make breakfast. Some were sneaking to light fires from their wands; others were striking matches, looks of disbelief on their faces as they found the matches worked. Evie could hear bits of conversations in all different languages. Though Evie could not understand any of the languages she heard, she could understand that everyone was excited.

"Is it just me, or has everything gone green?" Ron said suddenly, and Evie's eyes caught up to her feet.

They had walked into a patch of tents that were completely covered in shamrocks. The cover of shamrocks was so thick, the tents just looked like weirdly shaped hills. But smiling faces could be seen inside the tents whose flaps were open. "Well, this is clearly a group of Ireland fans." Evie smirked.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Evie!" They suddenly heard behind them.

Turning around they found it was Seamus Finnigan, a fellow Gryffindor from their year. He was sitting in front of his own shamrock covered tent. Beside him was a woman with sandy blonde hair, who could only be his mother, and his best friend Dean Thomas, another fellow Gryffindor.

"Like the decorations? The Ministry's not too happy." Seamus said, grinning.

"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" Mrs. Finnigan said. "You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" she added, eyeing them all beadily. Once they had assured her that they would indeed be supporting Ireland, they continued on, though Ron added, "Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot?"

"Wait, are you not supporting Ireland?" Evie turned on Ron quickly.

"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents?" Hermione pondered out loud, presumably stopping the possible argument that might have started between Evie and Ron.

"Let's go and have a look." Said Harry, pointing to the large section of tents up field with a Bulgarian flag was fluttering in the breeze.

When they reached the patch they saw that each and every one of the tents had the same poster of a surly face with heavy black eyebrows attached to it. The poster, of course, was moving. Though all it did was blink and scowl at them.

"Krum." Said Ron quietly. Evie nodded with a barely audible 'hmm'.

"What?" Hermione said.

"Krum!" said Ron. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks really grumpy." Hermione commented as she looked around at the many Krums blinking and scowling.

"He always looks like that." Evie shrugged.

"Who cares what he looks like?" Ron cut in. "He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

"Oh, not you too Ronald!" Evie huffed.

"What?" Ron looked at her.

"Krum is good, but he isn't that good. Besides, he's been carrying that team. They can't survive with just him doing something."

"Oh, please! You know he's brilliant, don't even pretend he isn't!" Evie and Ron continued to fuss at each other as they waited through the queue for the tap. Their argument was interrupted, however, when they over heard two wizards in front of them also having a heated conversation. One, an older wizard in a flowered night gown, the other was a younger wizard, obviously a Ministry official as he was in pinstriped trousers.

The Ministry official was trying to convince the older gentleman to change. "Just put them on Archie. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already suspicious –"

"I bought this in a Muggle shop." The older wizard said stubbornly. "Muggles wear them."

"Muggle women wear them, not the men, Archie, they wear these." The official said, brandishing another pair of pinstriped trousers.

"I'm not putting them on," said Archie, in indignation. "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks."

This comment sent both Evie and Hermione into a fit of giggles. Evie doubled over as she tried to catch her breath, too afraid of losing her spot to step out of queue. When they finally got their water, they made their way slowly back to the Weasley's campsite.

Along the way they saw many familiar faces. They ran into Oliver Wood, the old Gryffindor Quidditch team Captain, and the boy Evie spent her first three years fancying. They ended up meeting his parents and finding out that he had been signed to Puddlemere United's reserve team. They then bumped into Ernie Macmillan, a fourth year Hufflepuff and also Cho Chang, who played Seeker for Ravenclaw. Evie paused to chat amicably with her and then made sure to remember where she was so when they got back to their tent she could tell Cedric.

Evie did not miss the fact that harry went out of his way to wave at Cho, spilling quite a bit of water down his front in the process. She raised an eyebrow, but remained silent as Harry changed the subject to a group of teens that were unfamiliar to them all. Ron commented that they must go to another school, and Harry seemed a bit surprised at the information that there were other magic schools around.

"You didn't think Hogwarts was the only one, did you Harry?" Evie looked at him surprised.

"Well, no, I suppose I couldn't have. I just never really thought about it."

When they made it back to the Weasley campsite George fussed at them. "You've been ages!"

"We ran into a few people." Ron shrugged. "You haven't got that fire going yet?"

"Dad's having fun with the matches." Said Fred.

Evie looked over to find a pile of splintered matches on the ground at Mr. Weasley's feet. She watched on, with the look of a mother bemused at her wonderstruck child, as Mr. Weasley lit a match, then promptly dropped it in surprise. "Oops!" He chuckled.

"Come here, Mr. Weasley." Hermione said kindly, then helped him light the fire.

"We'd better be off. Dad will be wondering where we've got to." Evie smiled, waving to the Weasleys and Harry as she and Hermione picked up their kettle and pot of water. "We'll stop by so we can walk to the pitch together later, alright?"

Evie and Hermione didn't stay long at the Diggory campsite. Long enough to be fussed at over how long it took them to get water, then help her father light the fire and eat. Before she and Hermione ran off again, to find Ron and Harry, Evie made sure not to forget to tell Cedric where she had seen Cho.

Just as they were making their way over they saw two men Disapparate. One yellow and black Quidditch robes and the other in a suit. Just as they made their way to the Weasleys they heard Fred turn to Mr. Weasley and ask, "What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?"

"What did we miss?" Evie asked excitedly.

"Nothing, you'll all find out soon enough." Mr. Weasley answered. Evie immediately gave Harry and Ron a look that said she wanted to know everything that had just happened.

They quickly excused themselves and retired into the Weasley tent where Evie and Hermione heard the whole story, even the part where Mr. Crouch called Percy 'Weatherby'.

The afternoon wore on and the excitement in the camp grounds steadily rose. Before too long, it was time to head towards the pitch. On the way they passed several salesmen who were all offering assorted souvenirs.

Ron bought a dancing shamrock hat and a large green rosette, but he also purchased a small figure of Viktor Krum, which passed back and forth on his hand, looking up every now and then to scowl at the rosette. Then they found a salesman who had Omnioculars, and Ron regretted the hat. Harry ended up buying a pair for all four of them, Ron only taking his after Harry swore he'd get no Christmas presents for the next ten years.

Evie, for her part, bought a large green rosette as well. She also bought an Ireland scarf, and spent the rest of the walk making faces at Ron's small Viktor Krum figure.


	6. Chapter 6

The Quidditch World Cup was something Evie could hardly describe. Amos had gotten seats next to the Weasleys so they didn't have to separate again. Evie was grateful she and her friends could all share their first World Cup together.

The stadium was the biggest one Evie had ever seen. Their group was sitting as high up as they could go and everywhere she looked there were vendors trying to sell things, witches and wizards decked out in their team's colors, and Ministry officials trying to keep everything moving smoothly.

In their box, when everyone was situated Evie was staring at the pitch in absolute delight when she heard a squeaky voice behind her. She turned to find Harry conversing with a small house elf which big brown eyes and a nose the shape of a tomato. She said her name was Winky and she was saving the spot for her master. She said Dobby, the house elf Evie had heard so much about from Harry, was out demanding pay for his work and having fun. Winky herself seemed against the idea. She kept saying house elves weren't meant to be paid, and they didn't have fun. Evie found herself shocked that a creature could have servitude so ingrained into it that it looked frightened by the idea of pay and fun.

The box started filling in with Ministry officials Evie didn't know. Her father and Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with them though. And for a while Percy kept jumping up to greet them, that was until the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, came in and he bowed so low his glasses slid off his face and shattered. After fixing them with a face the color of a tomato, Percy decided it best he stay sitting. Evie couldn't have agreed more. Fudge greeted Harry as though they were old friends and Evie raised an eyebrow, thinking she didn't remember Harry and Fudge being on such close terms. Fudge introduced Harry to the Bulgarian Minister, who took quite a bit of time to recognize him. In that space of time Evie had wondered if perhaps Harry wasn't nearly as widely known as living in Britain would lead her to believe. Then the excited understanding began and she quickly banished that thought.

"…ah, and here's Lucius!" Evie caught the tail end of Fudge jabbering on to Harry and her mood immediately dropped.

The four friends turned quickly to see the Malfoys shuffling gracefully down to the three empty seats left in the box. The Malfoys greet the Minister and then for a tense moment when the Minister points out Mr. Weasley, he and Mr. Malfoy just stare at each other. Then Mr. Malfoy speaks.

"Good lord, Arthur," he says softly. "What did you have to sell to get these seats? Certainly your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Fudge apparently misses this entirely, as he next comment is to tell Mr. Weasley that the Malfoys just contributed a large sum of money to St. Mungo's.

"How – how nice." Mr. Weasley comments with a tight smile. Evie can feel the anger bubbling up inside of her.

Mr. Malfoy turns to notice Hermione with a sneer on his face. Evie feels Hermione tense beside her and presses her shoulder against her friends for support. They glare at the Malfoys together. Had the Minister not been there, Evie was sure he would have said something about Hermione's heritage. Instead, he nods with a sneer to Mr. Weasley and continues on. Draco passes next, shoot Evie and her friends a contemptuous look before settling himself between his mother and father. Mrs. Malfoy always seemed much more bearable than the two Malfoy men. She kept a cold air about her, and never looked particularly pleased by anything, but she never said ill words towards anyone openly, and prided herself in being a true lady, so she never would.

"Slimy git." Ron muttered before they all turned back to the field.

Then the man Evie and Hermione had seen from the back early burst into the box excitedly. He asked if everyone was ready and that's how Evie found out he was the commentator, and Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman. He announced the Bulgarian team mascots and the right side of the stands, a solid mass of scarlet, cheered loudly.

"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley said, leaning forward in his seat. "Ahhh!" He suddenly cried, pulling off his glasses and cleaning them on his robes. "Veela!"

Evie nodded in understanding as Hermione turned to her for an answer.

"What are Veel –" Harry started to ask before he was pulled into the trance of the Veela.

"Veela are semi-human, semi-magical humanoids. They are known for being really beautiful. Their looks and especially their dance are magically seductive to almost all males, and make them do crazy things. That's why Mr. Weasley looked away." Evie explains to Hermione as she points to Mr. Weasley, and then to a few of the other men in the booth, including her own father who had realized what they were quick enough to look away. "Now look at Harry, Ron, and the others who didn't look away." She directed and she and Hermione watched as they boys leaned closer and closer, stuck in the Veela's trance. Harry put his foot on the wall of the box, as though he might jump to try to reach them. "Watch him; he will jump if they don't end this soon."

The song stops and the Veela move to the sideline. Hermione grabs Harry who is still standing dazed as he tries to understand what just happened. "Honestly!" She yanks him down to a sitting position finally.

Mr. Weasley has taken Ron's hat from him as Ron had started ripping apart the shamrock on it. Evie was trying very hard to keep herself from laughing. She turned to find even Malfoy had succumbed to the Veela. Mrs. Malfoy was holding him in his seat as he slowly stopped fighting against her and realized what was happening. This caused Evie to break and finally laugh.

Then Ireland's mascots were called out. A great green and gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circle around that stadium and then split into two smaller comets. They flew over to the ends of the field and a rainbow arched through the sky, joining the two comets. They weren't actually comets of course. They were Leprechauns, each holding a little gold or green lantern. The rainbow faded and the two groups of Leprechauns joined back together and formed a giant shamrock high above the pitch. Then the gold began to rain down. It was bouncing off their heads and in their seats and all over the floor.

Once they were done, Mr. Bagman introduced the two teams and the match finally began. It was brilliant! Just as Evie and Charlie had stated, Bulgaria's Keeper and Chasers were no match for Ireland's players. The only player worth anything on Bulgaria was Krum; there could be no doubt about that. He faked out Ireland's Seeker, Lynch with a Wronski Defensive Feint, which was a brilliant tactic, Evie felt because if he found the Snitch first Lynch would second guess it before going after it, giving Krum a better chance of catching it, which as the game continued, it became painfully clear he would have to do.

As Ireland pulled further ahead of Bulgaria, the game got dirtier. Ireland got two fouls and Bulgaria got one. Ireland stayed steadily ahead though. The Leprechauns of Ireland began making rude gestures at Bulgaria's Veela, who lost their cool and launched across the field, throwing balls of fire at the Leprechauns. Evie watched and finally saw what Veela looked like when they got angry, as she had only ever read about them. Their faces became birdlike, with sharp beaks, and they grew scaly wings from their backs. Harry and Ron looked very shocked indeed to see them now.

"And that boys, is why you never go for looks alone." Mr. Weasley called over the roar of the crowd and Evie had to laugh at that one. It was very true, as much as any man would love to have a Veela bride, get her mad and you'd be living with that Harpy-esque creature.

The Veela were sent off the field and suddenly Lynch started diving. "Look!" Evie called excitedly.

"He's seen the Snitch!" Harry was watching exactly where she was and they excitedly got to their feet as they watched Krum, who was bleeding from his nose after Ireland's Beaters sent a Bludger in his direction, was gaining on Lynch as they both barreled towards the ground.

"They're going to crash!" Hermione yelled, horrorstruck.

"They aren't!" Ron corrected.

"Lynch is!" Harry said over the roar of the crowd, and just as predicted Lynch crashed into the ground again with tremendous force and was immediately trampled by a stampede of angry Veela. Evie looked on in shock.

Where's the Snitch?" Charlie yelled and Evie tore her eyes away from the trampled Lynch to search for Krum.

"He's got it! Krum's got it – it's all over!" Harry shouted in excitement.

Evie found Krum, who was indeed holding up the Snitch in triumph, then her eyes flew to the score board, which read:** Bulgaria: 160 Ireland: 170**. The realization hit her immediately and she joined in the cheers of joy as Ireland fans celebrated the win.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman announced loudly across the pitch as fans continued to cheer and yell. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH BUT IRELAND WINS! Good lord, I don't think any of us could've seen this coming!"

"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron wondered.

"He knew they were never going to catch up." Harry explained. "He just wanted to go out on his terms."

"He's very brave, isn't he?" Hermione said leaning over the rails, with her Omnioculars trained on the spot where Krum was refusing to let the Mediwitches mop up the blood still pouring from his nose.

"He's absolutely mad! But he is bloody brilliant too." Evie shook her head in awe.

Behind them the Bulgarian Minister of Magic had just began speaking English to Fudge, who had been under the impression all day that the man could not understand a word he was saying. Fudge was a bit huffy about that new development, but Evie found the Bulgarian Minister to be a rather funny, making Fudge mime all day just for the amusing image it presented.

The Top Box where they sat was suddenly lit up so everyone in the stands could see the two panting wizards bringing the Cup to Fudge. Then the Bulgarian team came up into the box as well. Evie's eyes almost popped out of her head as she tried to contain her excitement at being in such close proximity to the players she had just watched play. Krum was the last to file in and shake the Minister's hand. He was sporting the beginnings of two black eyes and his front was still covered in blood. He was also a bit clumsy on the ground.

After the Bulgarian team came Ireland, and Evie had to restrain herself as a small squeal bubbled in the back of her throat. When the team walked in Lynch was being supported by Moran, one of the Chasers, and Connolly, the Keeper. Lynch was clearly dazed, but he still enjoyed the moment when Troy, another Chaser, and Quigley, a Beater, lifted the World Cup into the air to the thunderous applause of the crowd.

* * *

><p>After it was over, and the Weasley twins had collected their winnings from Bagman, as they had called the ending f the match exactly, they whole group was walking back to the camp grounds in high spirits.<p>

Everyone's energy was too high to sleep, not to mention the amount of noise coming from the others at the campsite made it impossible for them to even think of sleeping. Amos agreed that Evie and Hermione could have one last cup of cocoa with the Weasleys before they had to head back to their tent and sleep. Cedric had run off somewhere with Cho and Amos retired to the tent alone.

At the Weasley tent, there was much good natured arguing about the match. They laughed and replayed their favorite moments until Ginny fell asleep right at the table and knocked over her hot chocolate. That's when Mr. Weasley requested they call it a night.

Evie and Hermione waved goodnight to the Weasleys and Harry before heading back towards the Diggory tent. When they got back it seemed both Amos and Cedric had already gone to sleep. They quietly crept to their room and got ready for bed.

They were just settling into bed when Evie sat upright quickly. "Hermione!" She whispered urgently.

"What?" Hermione mumbled as sleep had already started to claim her.

""Hermione, listen!" Evie spoke normally now. Hermione sat up slowly and they listened for a moment. The sounds they heard made Evie's blood run cold. "That's not singing." She whispered.

"We need to go!" Hermione jumped up off of her bunk. Evie followed suit quickly and tossed her shoes on just as Amos burst into their room with Cedric close behind.

"Oh, thank Merlin, you're here! " Amos sighed only slightly reassured. "Yes, quickly, we need to move!" He and Cedric already had their shoes on.

"Dad, what's happening?" Evie asked as she straightened up and she, Hermione, Amos and Cedric rushed out of the tent.

The scene they took in was just as terrifying as the noise. Everyone was running towards the woods in fear. There were hardly any fires still lit, and jeers and laughter flowed eerily through the screams. A sudden burst of green light lit up the scene and Evie saw what everyone was running from. A group of wizards, black hoods covering their masked faces, wands raised to the sky, marched towards them. Above them were four floating figures, their bodies contorted in horrific shapes.

The marching crowd was gaining members, which joined in the jeers and laughter, adding their wands to the group pointed up at the figures. Tents toppled and crumpled as the marching crowd swelled. Every now and then a member of the marching group would blast a tent out of his way, some of which caught fire. The screams continued to grow louder.

Some of the fire illuminated the four figures being floated, and Evie realized it was a family. A slightly older man, his wife and children. The poor woman was flipped upside down and her nightdress fell over her head and she struggled to cover herself.

"This is horrible!" Hermione said in shock. Evie couldn't find words, she just nodded.

"Cedric, get the girls into the woods! Keep them safe." Amos ordered with his wand out and at the ready.

"Where are you going?" Evie asked scared.

"I'm going to help the Ministry. Stay with your brother." Amos ordered, before turning and rushed towards the problem.

"Come on!" Cedric grabbed Evie's hand and began pulling her towards the woods. Evie grabbed onto Hermione and the rushed with the crowd towards the woods. Evie looked back only once, just before they entered the woods. Ministry officials were trying to make their way to the marching crowd, but they also seemed afraid of sending any spells flying, as it might harm the floating family.

All the lanterns that had been in the woods leading people to the World Cup had gone out by this point. People all around them were stumbling their way through the woods. Evie kept getting bumped into. One particularly strong man bumped into and dropped her to the ground. She lost Cedric's hand.

"Cedric!" She called in absolute fear. Hermione had dropped right on top of her because of how closely they had been following each other.

"Evie?" She could hear Cedric call back to her. He sounded like he was being pushed forward by the crowd of terrified people.

"Cedric!" The panic in Evie's voice was evident even to her. She couldn't see anything, and as she and Hermione stood up they both reached for their wands and called a "Lumos." The area around them lit up and all they could see was people rushing past them to get further into the woods and further away from the masked marching men.

"Evie?" She turned as a new voice coming from the left called out to her. "Hermione?" It called.

"I think that's Harry! Come on!" Hermione said quickly, before pulling Evie as they rushed to the left, fighting off the flow of scared people. "Harry?" Hermione called.

"Over here!" His voice was closer now. They ran faster, almost crashing into Harry and Ron in the end.

"Oh, thank Merlin, you're both alright!" Evie sighed when she saw them unharmed. "Where's the rest of your family?" Evie noticed there were no other Weasley's with them.

"Dad, Bill, Charlie and Percy went to help the Ministry. We lost Fred, George and Ginny when I tripped over a tree root." Ron explained.

"Where are your dad and Cedric?" Harry asked Evie. She could hear the hint of worry in his voice as he looked back towards the marching wizards.

"Dad went to help the Ministry as well. We've just lost Cedric when so heavy set Wizard crashed into me sending Hermione and me toppling over each other." Evie looked back in the direction they had come from, worried about where Cedric would end up.

"Evie, we'll find him once all of this is over. We have to get away from here for now though." Hermione placed her hand on Evie's shoulder. Evie looked at her best friend, then sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, alright, let's go." The four friends turned to see that there was hardly a soul left around them.


	7. Chapter 7

Ron pulled out his wand too. Harry reached for his only to find he didn't have it.

"Did you leave it in your tent?" Evie asked.

"Did you drop it while you were running?" Hermione offered.

"I don't know." Harry looked uncomfortable.

"We'll find it mate. After all this is over we'll check the woods and the tent for it." Ron said. Harry just nodded.

The group moved forward into the woods, but a rustling noise nearby caused them to jump. Evie and Hermione pointed their wands out though Evie doubted either of them would be able to take the masked men. It was instead the small house-elf Winky, struggling against an invisible force to find a place to hide.

"What's up with her?" Ron asked.

"She probably didn't ask permission to hide." Harry stated.

"You know house-elves really do get a raw deal." Hermione started indignantly. "It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go all the way to the top of the stadium, she was terrified, and –"

"Hermione!" Evie cut her friend off. "I understand your objections and I feel the way Mr. Crouch treats his house-elf is wrong too. But there are masked men setting fires and floating around poor muggle families just outside of these woods. Do you really think now is the time for an indignant tirade?"

Before anyone could respond another loud bang echoed from the edge of the wood, as if to punctuate her point.

"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" Ron said, glancing edgily towards the woods.

Evie glanced at her friends as they continued on and wondered if perhaps they should all be worried for Hermione. Sometimes, because of Hermione's prowess in magic Evie found she forgot that her friend was Muggleborn. But now, thinking on what she had said about the floating Muggle family, she wondered if they ought to be worried for Hermione as well. Evie grew up knowing very well that others were not as accepting of Muggleborn of Half blood witches and wizards as her family, or the Weasleys were. If these masked wizards were so bold as to steal a whole family of Muggles from their home and parade them around the biggest magical event of the year, perhaps decade, why shouldn't they try to harm Muggleborns as well? The thought made Evie uncomfortable, and she walked a little quicker as they followed the path deeper into the woods.

As they walked, keeping an eye out for the twins, Ginny and Cedric, they passed by a group of Goblins. They were counting a sack of money and looking completely unperturbed by the havoc down at the campsite. Then they came upon a silvery light, which turned out to be three beautiful Veela and a few teen boys desperately trying to win their affections.

"Nope, other way!" Evie called grabbing hold of Harry and bidding Hermione to do the same with Ron.

As they walked off they could hear one of the boys shouting at the Veela. "I'm about to become the youngest Minister of Magic." Evie snorted as Hermione just rolled her eyes.

Not long after that they stumbled into what appeared to be the heart of the woods. They made the decision to stay there, since it was so quiet they would be able to hear anyone coming from a great deal off. Not long after they got there Mr. Bagman stumbled upon them, when they told him what had happened he immediately disapparated off and they were once again alone.

"I hope the others are alright." Evie sighed, thinking of Cedric, hoping he had not backtracked to look for her and Hermione.

"They'll be alright." Ron said.

"Those poor Muggles though." Hermione shook her head. "What if they can't get them down?"

"They will." Harry reassured her.

"I wonder what these people were thinking, attacking tonight with so many Ministry officials around. Mad, isn't it?" Evie thought out loud.

"Exactly! How do they expect to get away with this?" Hermione jumped in as though she had been thinking the same thing. "Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just –"

Hermione and Evie turned quickly to look behind them. Harry and Ron, who had pulled out his miniature Krum figure turned as well. Something was staggering towards their clearing. They stood silently, listening to the staggering footsteps move closer to the clearing. Evie held tighter to her wand. The footsteps never reached the clearing however. They came to a sudden halt somewhere on the other side of the trees.

"Hello?" Harry called.

Harry moved to peer around the tree, but Evie stopped him. When he looked at her confused, she sighed. "You don't know who's out there. What if it's one of them? You want to give them a clear shot at you?"

"If it was one of them, they would've already tried to come at us." Harry brushed her off and peered around the tree.

There was still nothing but silence for a short time. Then, quite suddenly a voice a voice broke through the silence and called out, not in fear or pain, but a spell. "_MORSMORDRE_!"

From the place Harry was searching, something vast, glittering and green shot up towards the sky. Evie grabbed Harry and pulled him back before she realized the spell was aimed for the sky. She let him go and moved farther into the clearing and looked up to follow the spell. What she saw terrified her to the core. A giant skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, the Dark Mark. Throughout the woods, screams of terror filled the night, and Evie could not blame them for their fear.

"Who's there?" Harry called back towards the person who shot the spell.

"Harry, let's go!" Evie yanked at him again, staring at him and wondering how he could be so stupid.

He turned to look at her, Ron and Hermione, who were in equal states of fear. "What's the matter?" Harry asked looking concerned but completely lost. It was another moment Evie realized how little Harry knew of not just the Wizarding World, but his own past.

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, looking more terrified than Evie had ever seen her. She tugged at Harry with all her might, trying to get him to move.

"Voldemort's –"

"We have to go!" Ron had scooped up his miniature Krum and Harry finally moved with Evie and Hermione to rushed away from the clearing. Before they made it however, twenty odd wizards apparated each with a wand out, ready to battle.

"DUCK!" Harry yelled, and the four of them dropped to the ground.

"_STUPEFY_!" Twenty voices called at once.

The power of the spells made the hairs on the back of Evie's neck stand up. She could see the clearing was being lit red by all the spells. It was the first time since they had entered the woods that she had been able to see the ground clearly. She wished it was still too dark to tell where she was going.

"Stop!" Two voices called out. Evie recognized both.

"Those are our children, stop it!" Mr. Weasley yelled. The spells stopped and Evie heard a very welcomed sound.

"Evie?" Amos called with worry.

"Dad!" Evie shot up as Amos and Mr. Weasley strode quickly over to them.

"Are you all alright?" Mr. Weasley asked with a shaky voice.

Before they could answer a curt voice cut them off. "Out of the way Arthur." It was Mr. Crouch, the man Evie had seen before, but barely met. He led a group of Ministry wizards closing in on them. "Which one of you did it?" He spat at them. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"How dare you!" Evie snapped.

"We didn't do that!" Harry said, gesturing to the Mark.

"We didn't do anything!" Ron turned to look at his father indignantly, rubbing is scratched elbow. "What did you want to attack us for?"

"Do not lie, sir!" Mr. Crouch shouted, pointing his wand at Ron. His eyes were popping, he looked a bit deranged. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Well, that great detective work would be why you aren't an Auror, wouldn't it?" Evie snapped, stepping up, but Amos held her back.

"Evie." He whispered strictly. One look at her father told Evie it was time she held her tongue and controlled her anger. She shrank back.

"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown, "they're just kids. They couldn't have been able to…"

"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" Mr. Weasley turned to ask them.

"Over there." Hermione pointed to where they heard the sound.

"There was someone there, we heard him." Evie began to explain. "We tried to find out who it was, then they said something…an incantation, and…" She trailed off, looking at the horrible mark still hanging in the sky. She only then realized she was shaking.

"Oh? Stood over there, did they?" Mr. Crouch looked down his nose at Evie. He clearly didn't believe them. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how this Mark was summoned, missy…" His beady eyes popped out at her.

"I was here, I saw it happen." Evie stared back at him deadpanned.

All of the other Ministry officials seemed to see this as a more likely explanation than Mr. Crouch did. They were sure neither she, nor Harry, Ron or Hermione could've possibly summoned the Mark. All the other officials had their wands raised and pointed in the direction Hermione had indicated.

We're too late," the witch in the woolen dressing gown shook her head. "They'll have disapparated."

"Maybe not." Said Amos. "Our Stunners went right through the trees, there's a chance we got them…" He then squared his shoulders and raised his wand.

"Dad?" Evie questioned.

"Evie stay right there with Arthur. I'll be right back." The Amos marched across the clearing and disappeared into the trees. He was gone for a few minutes before they heard him call back. "Yes! We've got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's – but – blimey…"

"You've got someone?" Shouted Mr. Crouch. Evie glared at him for a second and his disbelieving voice, before turning her attention back to the place her father had disappeared. "Who is it?"

When her father reemerged from the trees Evie recognized the tiny, limp figure in his arms as Winky, Mr. Crouch's own house-elf. He set her down at Mr. Crouch's feet, who seemed a bit in shock. Still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"No – but –" He stuttered, and ever though Evie was smart enough to know it couldn't possibly have been the small house-elf who had conjured the Mark in the sky she enjoyed the embarrassment and shock etched across Mr. Crouch's face for all the accusing he had done.

"There's no one else there Mr. Crouch." Amos said as Mr. Crouch had strode around him and back into the woods from where Amos had just come. They listened to him rustle around.

"This doesn't make any sense." Mr. Weasley said.

"Bit embarrassing really." Amos commented. "Barty's own house-elf…"

"Oh, come off it Amos. You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark is a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."

"Yeah, and she had a wand." Amos said. At this everyone turned to him in shock.

"What?" Mr. Weasley said.

"If nothing else, that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken."

Mr. Crouch returned empty handed, just as Mr. Bagman popped up, stumbling into the clearing, late again. "The Dark Mark…" He stumbled around. "Barty! What's going on?"

"I'm a bit busy Ludo." Mr. Crouch said, barely moving his lips. "Amos, she couldn't have done this, and you know it. She would've needed a wand to start –"

"And she had one." Amos said again. "I found her holding it. If it's alright with you, I'd like to hear what she has to say for herself."

When they revived her, Winky stirred feebly. She looked around confused, shaking with fear. She noticed Amos' feet and followed them to his face. Then, shaking even more, if that were possible, she looked up to the sky. Evie watched the recognition appear on her face as she looked around the crowded clearing wildly and then burst into terrified sobs.

"Elf! I am a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. As you can see, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short time ago." Amos said looking at her. Winky was rocking back and forth, her breaths coming in short and sharp bursts. "You were discovered right beneath it. An explanation please!"

"! Is not doing it sir! I is not knowing how!" Winky gasped.

"You were found with a wand in your hand." Amos said, pulling the wand out to show her. Evie knew that wand at once.

"That's mine!" Harry shouted.

"Excuse me?" Amos turned to Harry in shock.

"That's my wand!" Harry repeated. "I dropped it!"

"You dropped it?" Amos looked at Harry in disbelief.

"Yeah, not there though. I noticed I lost it earlier, when we were running through the woods."

"So," Amos turned a hardened face back on the little elf. "You found the wand, eh? And you picked it up and thought you'd have a little fun with it, hmm?"

I is not doing it sir!" Winky sobbed.

"Dad, it wasn't her." Evie called her father's attention.

"She's right. We heard the voice. It was defiantly a man." Hermione said, looking very nervous to be speaking in front of all the Ministry officials. She turned to Ron and Harry for more support.

"Yeah, it sounded nothing like Winky's voice." Harry nodded.

"No doubt it was a human voice, not an elf." Ron finished.

"Well, we'll soon find out for sure what happened." Amos touched the tip of his wand to the tip of Harry's. "_Prior Incantato_!" He roared. Evie was beginning to think he was just trying to show off for all the other officials there. But she couldn't help the gasp the fell from her mouth when a miniature version of the Mark burst from the tip of Harry's wand. "_Deletrius_!"

"I think I know what happened here." The witch in the woolen dressing gown spoke up finally. "Who ever preformed the spell, did it with Harry's wand because their own would betray them, were they caught. Then this elf found the wand after they disapparated and was just in time to be stunned by us." She sighed. "They're long gone by now."

"Elf, did you see anyone?" Amos turned to Winky once again.

"I…I is seeing nothing sir." Winky said, still trembling as though she'd been tossed into a freezing lake in the middle of winter.

"Amos, I am fully aware of the ordinary course of action you'd want to take. But I ask you to allow me to deal with her." Mr. Crouch said.

Evie watched her father struggle with the want to deny that suggestion, but she could tell by now that Mr. Crouch was a very high ranking official at the Ministry, at least higher than her father. So when he nodded, she understood.

"You may rest assured that she will be punished."

"M-m-master?" Winky looked up at Mr. Crouch, pleadingly. "M-m-master, p-please…"

Mr. Crouch just looked down at her, not a hint of pity in his eyes. "Winky has behaved in a manner tonight that I would not have believed possible. She has disobeyed me, this means clothes."

"NO!" Winky sobbed. She knelt at Mr. Crouch's feet. "No, Master, please! Not clothes! Not clothes!"

"But she was frightened!" Hermione burst out angrily.

"She was struggling against it the whole time!" Evie added, thinking back to the invisible force Winky had been fighting. "She could've died if she had followed your order!"

"She did everything else you asked of her! She saved your seat even though she's terrified of heights. Those men were floating people!" Hermione glared at Mr. Crouch.

"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me." Crouch said coldly, glaring between Hermione and Evie. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and to her master's reputation."

There was a nasty silence in the clearing, filled only by the heart wrenching sobs coming from Winky. Mr. Weasley was the one to break it.

"Well, I think I'll take this lot back to the camp grounds, if nobody has any objections. Amos, I'll keep Hermione and Evie with me while you finish up here." Amos nodded. "And, if Harry could have his wand back, I think it's told us all it can."

Her father handed Harry his wand. "Evie, find Ced. Take him with you to the Weasley's tent until I come for you." Evie finally tore her glare from Mr. Crouch and looked at her father. He seemed very weary. She nodded slowly, shooting one more glare at Mr. Crouch before pulling Hermione away from the poor little elf.

They walked back to the campsite without any more problems. A crowd had formed around the edge of the wood and wanted to know what was going on, but Mr. Weasley dismissed them and continued on to the tent. As they neared Charlie popped his head out of the tent.

"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George and Ginny made it back, but –"

"I've got them." Mr. Weasley answered tiredly.

"Are Hermione and Evie with you? Evie's brother –"

"Cedric?" Evie perked up, cutting Charlie off and rushing into the tent. When Cedric saw her, he jumped up from the table and ran to pull her into a tight hug.

"I was so worried." He sighed, pulling her back to look over her.

"I'm fine. I'm just happy you're okay." Evie sighed. After everyone entered the tent, the whole group sat around the table. Evie, Mr. Weasley, Harry, Ron and Hermione explained everything that had happened. The group was shocked of course. Then Percy said something about Winky and Hermione lost it on him. The argument went on only a short time though, because Ron still didn't understand the Mark, or why so many were fearful of it.

"Ron, You-Know-Who's followers would put that Mark in the sky when they killed somebody." Mr. Weasley explained. "The terror it inspired…you have no idea, you're too young. Imagine coming home to that over your house…knowing awaited you inside…" Mr. Weasley winced. "Everyone's worst fear…the very worst…"

They all stayed silent for a moment before Bill broke it as he examined the cut on his arm. "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared all the Death Eaters away. We did manage to catch the Roberts before they hit the ground though. They're having their memories modified as we speak."

"What are Death Eaters?" Harry asked.

"That's what they call themselves, his followers." Evie answered, all this talk was making her think of her mother, who would've been alive had it not been for Voldemort and his followers.

Cedric placed his hand over hers and gave a gentle squeeze. He was thinking of their mother too.

"That's probably who the masked men were." Evie shrugged. "What's left of them anyway."

"We can't prove that." Mr. Weasley said.

"It probably was." Bill agreed. Mr. Weasley nodded sadly, he didn't want to say it, but Evie could tell that's what he thought too.

They continued to talk until Amos came for Cedric, Evie and Hermione. Then they said goodnight to the Weasley's and went back to their tent to get some sleep. In their room, Evie and Hermione sat awake for a bit longer.

"Do you get the feeling something big, and possibly terrible is starting?" Evie asked Hermione.

"Yeah, I think you may be right." Hermione answered. Both girls sighed. Evie lay back on her bunk and wondered if this might be the year things really started to change.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>This chapter was really long because next chapter I'll only be giving snippets of the rest of the summer and then it's off to Hogwarts!


	8. Chapter 8

After all the unexpected excitement at the World Cup, when Evie and Hermione got back to the Diggory cottage, all they wanted to was sleep. They dragged their bags into the kitchen and sighed as they sat down.

Amos sighed and looked up at the three teens resting to gain the strength to continue on to their rooms. "I'll have to go into the office today."

"What?" Cedric looked up at him.

"Why? You're on holiday aren't you?" Evie continued.

"Yes, but with all that's happened, an elf got a wand, Mr. Crouch's own elf? Something is wrong here. I'll need to check in and make sure no more magical creatures have gotten ideas and such." Amos rubbed his tired face. "Best not delay, I'll change and then be off."

When he left the kitchen Hermione let out a huff.

"What is it?" Evie sighed.

"I don't like the way your father talks about elves. I don't like the way he talked to Winky in the forest. It's like he sees them as lesser."

"Well of course he does." Cedric looked at Hermione bemused. "He works in a department of the Ministry designed to keep magical creatures 'in their place'." Cedric quoted.

"He's right, Hermione. What did you expect of my father? He grew up in a very traditional household." Evie rubbed her tired eyes and yawned.

"So that makes it right?" Hermione rounded on the siblings.

"Look, I'm not happy with the way Dad handled Winky either, but I also know that all of this has put a lot of stress on him. Seeing that mark, it brought back all sorts of terrible memories for him. You know my mum died at the hand of Death Eaters. How did you expect him to handle a situation like that?" Evie began to get defensive.

Hermione looked at her friend sadly. "You're right, I'm sorry." Hermione sighed. "Oh gosh, I've been very insensitive, haven't I? I didn't even ask you if you were okay." She turned to Evie looking really upset.

"It's alright, that Mark scared you too. Honestly, I never knew my mum, so as much as I want to say it stirred up terrible memories for me, all it did was make me sad. I'll never know her because of them." Evie sighed.

Amos came down soon after and left. Cedric decided to go get some sleep. Just as Evie and Hermione were getting up to do the same, there was a knock on the kitchen door. Evie opened it to find Harry and Ron.

Harry said he needed to tell them something and they all went up to Evie's room. Harry began at once to tell him of his hurting scar and the nightmare he'd had about Voldemort. Hermione and Ron acted exactly as Evie would've expected them too, she, however, just stayed silent the whole conversation. What her friends didn't know was that the moment Harry started talking, her heart had begun racing. Her palms began to sweat, and Evie suddenly found her breathing was a bit labored. She couldn't understand what this meant. She felt guilty, because she couldn't bring herself to speak up about her own pain and the similar nightmare she had, but her mind was a whirlwind of confusion.

"Evie?" She snapped back to the conversation at hand to find all three of her friends staring at her.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked.

"You alright? You haven't said anything this whole time." Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking. I wish we knew what all of this meant." She sighed.

"We're all tired, and I think we'd better pick this up later, once we've had a rest and time to think." Hermione suggested. The boys nodded and left. Evie and Hermione saw them out, and as soon as Evie closed the door behind them she turned to look Hermione square in the eyes.

"I need to tell you something, and I need you to remain as logical and as calm as you are able." She said.

"Let's go back up to the room." Hermione answered. Her voice was calm, but her eyes betrayed her. Evie could tell Hermione knew whatever she was about to say could very well be more important than anything she'd ever said before.

Once they were in Evie's room again, both girls sat on the bed and Evie turned to face Hermione. "I had the same dream Harry did."

"What? But that doesn't make any sense. How could you –" Hermione stopped because Evie put her hand up to halt her. "Sorry."

"I don't know how it's possible. I didn't even know we'd had the same dream until he started describing it. I didn't get as clear an image as he did either. I saw flashes of things, not the whole picture. Just bits and pieces of it." Evie shook her head. "But that's not all, my birthmark started hurting the same night in first year that Harry's scar did. It seems like it hurts every time Harry's scar hurts."

"It's like you're both connected somehow." Hermione looked at Evie in awe.

"But that's just it, isn't it? How could Harry and I possibly be connected?"

"What if your birthmark isn't really a birthmark? What if it's a scar?" Hermione suggested suddenly.

"Why would that change anything?"

"Think about it! Your mum was tortured by those Death Eaters right? You said your dad found her barely alive." Evie nodded at this. "And she was pregnant with you at the time. So what if you were also hurt by the torture and that birthmark is actually a scar from what happened to you and your mum?"

Evie stared at Hermione for a moment, then smacked herself on the forehead. "Oh, I'm such an idiot! Why did I not think of that? Of course, that's why I was in the hospital for so long after I was born. I feel like such a fool. Dad always called it my birthmark, so I just never thought it could be anything else." Understanding and relief washed over her, as things all started to fall into place. "But, wait. Why would it hurt then? I wasn't attacked by Vold… oh, honestly Hermione, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"It's probably the dark magic that surrounds him. What killed your mum and scarred you was terrible dark magic. Just like what He did to Harry. There's probably an aura of dark magic around Him."

"This still doesn't explain the dream, does it?" Evie sighed.

"No, no it doesn't." Hermione agreed, as though she had forgotten all about the dream.

"It just doesn't make any sense once you add in the dream." Evie sighed in frustration.

"It's like there's something we're missing. One piece of the puzzle that makes it impossible to solve." Hermione sighed, mirroring Evie's frustration.

"We won't figure it out yet, not without more information." Evie thought out loud. Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Well, I think we ought to get some sleep for now, we're exhausted."

"Sounds like a good idea." Evie agreed. Hermione got off the bed and headed for the door. A look of determination on her face. It was her thinking face, the face she always wore when she had decided she would, not matter what, figure out the answer to this problem in front of her. "Hey, Hermione?" Evie called her back. "Don't tell Harry and Ron about this. I don't want to say anything until we understand everything."

"Of course." Hermione smiled before heading to the guest room. Evie settled herself into her bed, and sleep came quickly to claim her.

* * *

><p>The rest of the summer passed rather quickly. Amos spent loads of time at the Ministry. That reporter Rita Skeeter, the one who wrote all the overly dramatized Daily Prophet articles, was really making life hard for all the Ministry employees. Every article was something new she'd made up. Evie grew a great dislike of the woman, rather quickly. Amos came home late and exhausted every night, and things as the Weasley house were no better. Mr. Weasley and Percy were gone just as much and came home looking just as worn out. The only real difference was that Hermione had seemingly taken up a new passion, defending house-elves. She was very clear on her stance towards them and made herself heard whenever the subject came up.<p>

It wasn't until the night before they were all due to the Hogwarts Express that Evie even bothered to see what her father had gotten her for school that year. She was double checking that she had everything when she noticed something she hadn't before. She immediately went to the one person she figured would be able to help her.

"Come in." Cedric called when she knocked on his door. She opened it to find him sitting on his bed, reading Quidditch Weekly. She plopped herself down at the foot of his bed, resting her back against the foot board.

"Have you looked over your school list?"

"'Course I did. I went with Dad to buy our things, remember?" Cedric looked at her, setting the magazine down on the bed.

"Right, well, why didn't you tell me we needed formal wear this year? Is that normal? Do you always need formal wear from fourth year on?"

"No, it's completely new. And I didn't tell you, because I didn't think it was a big deal. Why do you care?"

"You know what formal wear signifies?"

"An event that is formal?" Cedric shrugged.

"It's a dance of some sort!" Evie glared at him.

"Alight, sure. Why does that matter?"

"I'll step on somebody's toes! I'll make a fool of myself."

"We've gone to Ministry Christmas Galas all our lives and suddenly you're worried about a school dance?" Cedric laughed.

"Of course I am. Ministry events are for families. We go with Dad and hang out with the other people our age that got dragged there by their parents. But a school dance means, I mean, you go in pairs." Evie blushed.

"You mean you bring a date?" Cedric smiled knowingly. "You're nervous you'll embarrass yourself in front of a boy."

"Oh, shut up." Evie scrunched her face.

"Evie, you don't have to be scared."

"That's easy for you to say. Girls will be lining up to be your date. I'm clumsy and awkward; no boy will want to go with me."

"Hey." Cedric said, looking more serious. He moved to sit next to Evie and grabbed her hand, protectively. "You are perfect, and any boy who can't see that is a fool." Evie smiled up at her brother.

"Thanks, Cedric."

"That's what I'm here for. Now go get some rest, we'll be up early for the train." Cedric moved back to his original position and picked his magazine up again.

"Good night." Evie smiled as she made her way back to her room to finish double checking her bag and get some much needed rest.

* * *

><p>The next morning Evie came down the stairs to find that breakfast had been made, but her father was nowhere to be seen. Instead on the table was a note. Picking it up Evie read:<p>

_Had to go into the office early. So sorry I won't be able to see you off. Go to the Weasleys, they'll see you get to the train on time. I'll owl tonight to check on you. Love, Dad_

Evie sighed and sat down at the table. She began eating as Hermione, and then Cedric emerged.

"Where's Dad?"

"Had to go into the office early." Evie pointed to the letter still on the table.

"Hmm, alright, we'd better eat and head over to the Weasley's then." Cedric nodded, filling his own plate with food.

"I hope this all blows over soon. They've been running him ragged at the Ministry." Evie commented.

"Well, let's hope there's not really anything to blow over and that Skeeter woman is just making things up as she goes." Cedric added.

"She really is quite annoying isn't she? Making so much trouble where there isn't any need to." Hermione shook her head.

They finished breakfast on a much higher note then Cedric popped through the floo to the Weasleys. Floo was the best option, as it was raining and they had three very heavy trunks in tow. He told them, he thought it was better he go first so they could let the Weasleys know they were on the way and send the bags through. Hermione went after their trunks, and Evie went last, making sure the house was locked up before stepping into the fireplace.

Bill and Charlie accompanied the group to Kings Cross to say goodbye. They took taxis to the station; Evie would have been excited, had it not been for Crookshanks in a very bad mood clawing her, Ron, Harry and Hermione to shreds. By the time they reached the station, Evie was happy to be out of the taxi, and have the ability to put space between her and that crazed cat, even though it was raining harder than it had been before.

Once they reached the platform they hopped on the train to find a compartment and put their things down. Cedric said his goodbyes to the Weasleys and went off to find his friends. Evie, the rest of the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione hopped back off the train to say a last goodbye to Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Charlie.

"I might be seeing you sooner than you think." Charlie said as he hugged Ginny.

"Why?" Fred asked keenly.

"You'll see." Charlie smiled. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it. You know, since its 'top secret information' and all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I was back at Hogwarts this year." Bill stuffed his hands in his pocket wistfully.

"Why?" George repeated Fred's earlier question.

"You're going to have an interesting year." Bill smiled, his eyes twinkled with mischief and Evie could once again see some of Fred and George in him. "I might get some time off to come and see some of it."

"Some of what?" Ron asked, the impatience growing in the three youngest Weasley boys. But just then the train whistled and they had to board again. Mrs. Weasley hugged them all once more then rushed them back onto the train.

Mum, do you know what they're talking about?" Ron asked as they leaned out the window to talk to Mrs. Weasley.

"I suspect you'll know by tonight. It will be exciting; mind you I'm glad they've changed the rules."

"What rules?" All the boys asked together.

"Never mind…behave all of you. You will behave Fred and you George?"She eyed her two trouble making sons.

The train hissed and the pistons began to move.

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred yelled after his mother, Bill and Charlie. Mrs. Weasley just smiled and waved. They got farther and farther away, and before the train had even rounded the corner she, Bill and Charlie had disapparated.


	9. Chapter 9

The trip to Hogwarts was mostly uneventful. Hermione and Evie taught Harry and Ron a bit more about the other Wizarding schools. Several of their fellow Gryffindors stopped in to say hello and relive the World Cup. For that portion Hermione buried her nose in _Standard Book of Spells Grade 4_. Evie joined her for a bit when she saw Hermione was trying to learn a Summoning Spell, but mostly she just tried to assure Neville that even though the World Cup was great, he was lucky to not have been there. That proved particularly hard to do with harry, Ron, and Seamus excitedly recounting everything but the danger end to the night.

The most notable part of the trip, unfortunately, was when Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle stopped by after overhearing Ron tell Neville they had sat in the Top Box at the World Cup. They got the unfortunate news that Malfoy's father had told him about whatever the big event was that year.

"For your information, Malfoy, our fathers could have told us, but we aren't supposed to know yet, are we?" Evie raised an eyebrow at him. "But Slytherins like you never do care to follow the rules; it's why the only thing that keeps your father so high up in the Ministry is money, not actual skill or intelligence. Good thing too, because if you all weren't rich, he'd be poor and stupid."

"My father is one of the most intelligent and capable wizards to ever live!" Malfoy seethed.

"Oh, well I was only guessing based on your performance and since you always fall somewhere _behind_ Hermione and myself, I assumed you'd gotten your lack of intelligence from your father. My mistake." Evie shrugged feigning innocence. The boys in their compartment laughed as Malfoy stormed away, Crabbe and Goyle following behind him.

"Evie, you know you shouldn't be sinking to Malfoy's level." Hermione sighed at her.

"I wasn't…" Evie looked at Hermione. "Okay, maybe I was but I'm not going to just let him insult us like that."

The rest of the trip passed by quickly. They changed into their robes as they got closer, and the rain grew harsher the further north they traveled. When they got off the train, they ran into Hagrid. Evie was glad she wasn't a first year. The rain had not let up even a little and she was glad she wouldn't have to take the trip up to Hogwarts by boat.

In the Entrance Hall of the castle Peeves was throwing water balloons at everyone as they came in. McGonagall came out to yell at him, but he just finished throwing the rest of his balloons and flew off. Peeves never listened to anyone, and he was a real menace when you ran into him if you were running late to class. If fact, Evie found it best to avoid Peeves at all costs, unless accompanied by Fred and George, whom the little Poltergeist seemed to have a deep respect for.

The four friends sat through the Sorting Ceremony, in which all the poor first years where soaking wet. The food arrived and they all sat around eating and talking until Nearly Headless Nick told them that Peeves almost ruined their chance of having a feast at all that night. When Hermione heard that there were house-elves, and they didn't get paid or get sick leave she refused to eat another bite. Evie thought about trying to talk to her friend, but she knew how stubborn and determined Hermione could be and she felt there was really no use. Hermione would probably be eating again soon anyway.

When the feast was finally over Dumbledore rose to speak again. After giving the usual warnings and rules, and additions to Filch's list of forbidden items, a list which was some four hundred or so items long, he said something nobody was expecting. The inter-house Quidditch Cup was cancelled. Evie was shocked, and with peaked curiosity she listened closely over the sounds of outrage from the rest of the Quidditch teams. IT had to have something to do with whatever the big event was.

Just as Dumbledore was about to announce it, the doors to the Great Hall crashed open. Standing in the doorway was a man, with a long staff in one hand and a black cloak covering his body. He lowered his cloak as lightening flashed across the sky and Evie gasped. His hair was grey and unkempt, his face was nearly all scar, to the point where he was even missing a bit of nose. Other than the scars the only remaining discernible feature of his face was a large electric blue eye, which never blinked and never stopped moving. As the man walked a dull clunk filled the hall as everyone had fallen silent to watch his progression to the Heads Table. Once there he held out a hand to Dumbledore and took the only empty seat left.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore smiled at he gestured to the man. "Professor Moody."

Instead of the usual round of cheering and applause that met new teachers, only Dumbledore and Hagrid clapped and when they heard how forlorn it sounded, they stopped. Evie was still staring in shock at the man that was devouring a banger. Moody, she knew the name. She imagined anyone whose parents worked at the Ministry knew the name.

"Mad-Eye Moody? The guy your dad was talking about this morning?" Harry turned to Ron.

"Must be." Ron answered still looking at Professor Moody. Evie's eyes went wide as she rounded to her friends when she realized that Harry must be right.

"What happened to his face?" Hermione asked, still in a bit of shock and horror.

"Dunno." Ron answered.

"Really?" Evie looked at all of them in shock.

"What?" Harry looked at her confused.

"Mad-Eye Moody is one of the most famous and best Aurors ever. He's caught more dark wizards that anyone I can think of still alive. I mean, people say he's a bit crazy now, but if anyone was a good pick for Defense, it's him." Evie answered a bit excitedly, turning back to look at the man again. He was pulling a flask out of his travel cloak, taking a swig and then replacing it on his hip. As he fiddled at his hip Evie noticed the reason he was using a staff wasn't just because he was on in years, but because one of his legs was wooden.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and finished announcing the big event Hogwarts would be hosting that year, the Triwizard Tournament. "You're JOKING." Fred shouted out, breaking the tension in the room that had settled upon Moody's arrival. Even Dumbledore chuckled while he assured Fred that he was not, in fact, joking. He almost sidetracked himself with an actual joke, but Professor McGonagall called him back to attention. Then Professor Dumbledore explained exactly what the Triwizard Tournament was.

Evie paid little attention to Dumbledore's explanation. She had heard of the tournament before, and she also distinctly remembered Cedric wishing excitedly they would bring it back so he could compete. Hermione seemed as opposed to the tournament as Evie found herself. Hermione was whispering something about the death toll in Evie's ear, but she was too busy scanning the Hufflepuff table to actually catch Hermione's worries.

Evie couldn't catch sight of her brother and as Dumbledore droned on about safety precautions and an age limit, which was met with outraged fuss, she finally spotted him. Evie watched as Cedric offered Dumbledore his full attention, trying to catch every rule and restriction, as well as how and when students would be able to place their names in the running. Dumbledore never gave that answer though. He told them they'd all just have to wait until October to find out.

When Dumbledore sent them off towards bed Evie excused herself from the group as Fred and George complained about the age restriction. Evie pushed her way through the crowds and rushed over to catch Cedric before her got to the Hufflepuff tunnel.

"You're going to put your name up, aren't you?" She eyed him knowingly.

"You remember the stories! I could bring glory to the school, be a hero. I could bring a thousand Galleons home, that's not a bad way to start off my life, especially if I don't get drafted by a Quidditch team." Cedric reasoned.

"I do remember the stories. You know what I remember about them that you don't seem to? The deaths! They stopped holding the tournament because of the death toll, or did you tune out that part of the history lesson?"

"What are you saying?"

"You know even some of the greatest young witches and wizards died in those tournaments." Evie lamented.

"I haven't been picked as a Champion yet. I haven't put my name in the running. Why are you so worried already?"

"Because I know you will. And I know there will be a good chance you do get picked once you do."

"Really?" Cedric perked up as though the statement was intended as a compliment.

"Cedric, are you even listening to me? This isn't funny."

"I know that. But I also know that you are prone to worrying about things you shouldn't be."

"People have died! How is my worry unreasonable?"

"You could've died every year since you got here! So, you know what? If I get picked as the champion you will finally get to see what it feels like to be your brother." Evie stared after Cedric in shock as he left the Great Hall. Not knowing what else to do she turned and rushed after her friends.

She made it up the stairs just as the group was entering the Gryffindor common room. Evie was out of breath when she climbed through. The familiar common room felt as much like home as the Diggory Cottage. Evie and Hermione separated from the boys and went up to their own dorm room.

In the room, their usually beds sat empty and waiting for them. Lavender and Parvati had already gone to sleep, and all of their usual posters of famous witches and wizards they idolized or found attractive were back on the walls surrounding their beds. The smell of Lavender's perfume was also already thick in the air.

"Bloody hell, if she puts any more on she'll kill us all." Evie waved her hand to air out the area near her bed before pulling on her pajamas and crawling into bed. There was a warming pan between the sheets and she sighed as she reveled in the warmth. Beside her, Hermione was climbing into her own bed. When she felt the warming pan she scoffed and removed it. "You're going to freeze." Evie said, watching her friend.

"I will not rest on the backs of slave labor." Hermione glared as Evie left her pan exactly where it was.

"Hermione, you are my friend and I respect your opinion, but I have a feeling you are going to be sorely disappointed with whatever this endeavor ends up becoming. That's not to say I won't support you, I'll help you in whatever way I can, but I don't think you understand what you are up against." Evie sighed.

"I don't care what I'm up against! I will not let the house elves continue to be treated this way."

"Alright, but we aren't going to get anything done tonight. We'll worry about setting them all free tomorrow." Evie snuggled deeper into the warmth of her blankets.

"'We'? So you'll help me?" Hermione's voice perked up.

"Like I said, you're my friend and I'll support you however I can. Goodnight Hermione." Evie turned over and drifted off to sleep quickly.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning was like any other first morning of the school year. Evie woke up earlier than she'd have liked, dressed quickly in the school robes with the familiar red inner lining and pulled on a pair of knee high grey socks to brace her legs against the cold. The year before Evie had finally let Lavender and Parvati teach her a thing or two about her hair, and this year she had resolved to remove it from the braid she usually wore it in. However, being unprepared to let it just fly wild and free, she pulled it into a high ponytail with the elastic she always kept around her wrist.

At breakfast Hermione was eating again, and Evie wondered if it had anything to do with their talk from the night before. Hermione told the group she was going to think of another way to help the elves, without starving herself. And as they finished up their breakfast they all looked over their schedule for Monday.

"We're outside all morning. At least the rain has stopped." Evie glanced at the ceiling of the Great Hall which didn't reflect any rain, but still showed thick grey clouds in the sky.

"Yeah, Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, not bad and then we have Care of Magical Creatures…aw we're with the Slytherins again." Ron complained.

"Double Divinations this afternoon." Harry sulkily told Ron. Evie snorted, wondering why they had kept the class when all Professor Trelawney did was tell Harry he was going to die in many gruesome ways.

"Well, you should've given it up like we did." Hermione said briskly, motioning between herself and Evie. "Then you'd be doing something sensible, like Arithmancy." Evie didn't comment, not entirely sure that she preferred one to the other.

When the owls came, Evie received a letter from her father, as usual. She also noticed that Neville had his usual package of whatever he'd forgotten to pack that year. Over at the Hufflepuff table, Cedric's owl Noel was handing him a letter from their father as well. Evie wondered if it was encouragement to try to be the Champion of Hogwarts.

Evie also noticed Harry did not receive a letter, and it seemed to bother him right up until they reached the greenhouse for their Herbology lesson. That morning Professor Sprout had them popping slugs for the pus inside. It was apparently to help students stop trying to rid themselves of ache, and pimples. Madam Pomfrey seemed in dire need of it, especially after the Hufflepuff girl had tried to curse hers away. Instead she'd lost her nose.

After Herbology, Evie remembered to say goodbye to Hannah Abbot, with whom she was on friendly terms. As they made their way down to Hagrid's hut, Evie was not looking forward to spending the lesson with Slytherin, or whatever creature Hagrid had found for them to learn about. While Evie cared very deeply for Hagrid, he did have a rather unhealthy love of all the most dangerous magical creatures, hence his want of Norbert the dragon in her first year.

When the Slytherins arrived, Hagrid showed them exactly what Evie had feared he would, something deadly and, quite honestly, ugly. Blast-Ended Skwerts, Hagrid called them. They were pale, squishy and slimy looking, and their name hadn't left much to be hopeful about. Evie was very keen to know which end was the blasting end so she could keep very far away from it. They didn't seem to have heads or eyes, for that matter, as they blindly felt around the crates Hagrid had them in. Then there was the stench, which was enough to make Evie want nothing to do with them. But as she watched Hagrid explain with pride that they were newly hatched and the students would be able to raise them and learn about them as they went, she knew she would suck it up for him.

They got through the lesson with the least amount of injuries, only Dean Thomas sustained a burn when his Blast-Ended Skwert's back end exploded, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that they were given their name for a reason. After the lesson, the four friends made their way up to lunch. When they sat down to eat Hermione started stuffing her face so quick, Evie, Ron and Harry all paused to stare at her.

"Erm…Hermione?" Evie called her attention away from the food. When Hermione looked up at her friends Evie almost laughed because she looked so much like Ron with her cheeks full of food.

"Is this your new stand on elf right?" Ron asked. "You're going to make yourself puke instead?"

"No." Hermione tried to muster her dignity through her still full mouth. "I just want to get to the library."

"What?" Ron asked in shock. "Hermione it's the first day of classes, we don't even have homework yet."

But Hermione just shrugged, finished her food and waved at them as she rushed off to the library.

Evie, Ron and Harry ate much slowly that Hermione. Well, Evie and Harry did, Ron just barely missed Hermione's time. As they ate Evie looked over at the Hufflepuff table, searching for Cedric. When she found him, she got up smiling at Harry and Ron and she moved away from the table. "I'll see you lot at dinner as well."

She quickly walked over to the Hufflepuff table and got her brother's attention. "What's up?" He said calmly when he saw it was her.

Evie looked at Cedric unsure how to proceed. He was not usually even tempered with her after she upset him. "I just wanted to talk to you." She answered hesitantly.

"Alright." Cedric set his cutlery down and led Evie out of the Great Hall. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Are you still being stubborn and unreasonable?"

"I'm never unreasonable."

Cedric raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm not usually unreasonable." Evie sighed. "I'm sorry I upset you."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"No, you were right. I should really be more mindful of all the worry I put you through. I really don't mean to get myself in those situations."

"I know you're just being a good friend. It's a really admirably trait."

Evie smiled at her brother when he said that.

"Look, I haven't made any decisions as to whether I'm going to try to be the Hogwarts Champion, yet."

"That letter from Dad said he wanted you to though, didn't it?"

"Not in so many words."

"You don't have to. He's never going to stop being proud of you, you know that."

"I know, but what he was saying while we waited for the Portkey really bothered me. He's so proud of me winning against Harry last year, but I didn't deserve it. If Oliver Wood wasn't so gracious we would've had a rematch and I don't think I would've beaten Potter."

"Cedric, you are an amazing Quidditch player. Teams will be lining up around the block to pick you."

"You have to say that, you're my sister."

"No, actually, because I'm your sister I can be completely honest since you'd still have to love me. I'm saying this because it's true. You're really good. You're worthy of the Chudley Cannons."

"Thanks Evie…but I'm still thinking about going for the tournament, and if I do, I'd feel a lot better about it knowing you're behind me."

"You're my brother; I'll support you through anything. Even if I think it's crazy." Evie gave a half smile.

"Good." Cedric smiled just as the bell signifying afternoon lessons sounded. "Alright, I'll see you later." Cedric turned and started outside to whatever his afternoon lessons were.

* * *

><p>Evie started up towards the seventh floor for Arithmancy. Hermione was already in the class when she got there. She went to sit beside Hermione and was surprised to find that she and Hermione were some of a very few Gryffindors in the class, which was mostly Ravenclaws. She was also surprised to find that both Malfoy and Zabini were in the class. Evie had to bite back a groan when she noticed them.<p>

"Oh, great." She whispered as she pulled out her quill and parchment.

"I know, I saw them too. So what you will about them, at least they have enough sense to get out of that fraud's class also." Hermione grumbled.

"Be careful, Hermione. That sounded dangerously close to a compliment, and you know if Malfoy's head gets any bigger he won't fit through the doors anymore." Evie whispered, then both girls laughed.

"Good afternoon, class." Professor Vector called their attention to the front of the class and began the lesson for the day. About half way through the lesson, Evie began to wonder if perhaps she should've chosen Muggle studies instead. Numbers were not a strong suit of hers, and so it was only with Hermione's help that Evie survived the lesson. She didn't struggle as bad as some of the others in the class, but she would not being signing up for Advanced Arithmancy Studies anytime soon.

As they packed up at the end of class, Evie started to tell Hermione about the issue she'd had with Cedric.

"The thing is I told him I'd support him, but I don't really want to. You heard what Dumbledore said about the death toll."

"Yes, I think this whole tournament might be a very bad idea. But things are starting to get bad aren't they? I mean with everything that happened at the World Cup, something is coming." Hermione and Evie descended the stairs, walking towards the Great Hall for dinner.

"I think you're right. D'you think that's why Dumbledore wants to bring back the tournament? He said it was to promote school unity and unite the three schools, which might never meet if not for this."

"That's true; I mean Harry didn't even know there were other schools. We really are closed off from each other."

"Maybe Professor Dumbledore thinks there's something coming too. Maybe he's trying to make sure that we all stand united against whatever it is." Evie bit her lip, musing over the tournament. "I still hate that they couldn't come up with a better way of doing this."

"Me too. I mean, something without a death toll would've been lovely." Evie couldn't help but laugh a bit at that.

"Do you think I'm wrong about Cedric though?"

"No, but I don't think he's wrong either. We do get in all sorts of dangerous situations, and you never even think twice about it…none of us really do, do we? It's got to be hard, being here and knowing all the danger we've gotten into and never being able to do anything to help or stop it. That's why I'm glad my parents haven't the slightest idea what we get up to every year."

"Yeah, I guess I just hadn't thought about it. That's sort of horrible isn't it?"

"Not horrible…just a bit thoughtless." Hermione grimaced as she said that. Evie sighed.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to say that." She shrugged as they spotted Harry and Ron and rushed to catch up to them. "At least this year we won't have to worry about that. This year all my worry will be for Cedric if he puts his name in."

"That'll take all weekend, that will…" Ron was moaning, grumpily.

"Lots of homework?" Hermione made their presence known. "Professor Vector didn't give _us_ any at all!" She chirped.

"Well, bully for Professor Vector." Ron grumbled. Evie grinned at his moodiness.

They had just reached the end of the line of people trying to get dinner when they heard an unpleasant voice call behind them. "Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

They turned to find Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini standing there. All except Zabini looked unnervingly pleased about something.

"What?" Ron snapped.

"Your dad's in the paper Weasley! Listen to this!" Malfoy said loud enough for everyone in the packed entrance hall to hear. Then he proceeded to read an article by none other than Rita Skeeter, herself. She once again mentioned the World Cup incident, then brought up Mr. Weasley, whom she called Arnold. Malfoy paused his reading at that, looking up at Ron. "Imagine them not even getting his name right Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?"

The whole hall was silent now, listening to the entire exchange. Malfoy straightened his paper with a flourish and picked up the story again. Rita Skeeter brings up the Weasley's Ford Angelina incident from two years back, then blames Mr. Weasley for something that seemed to be Moody's fault.

"And there's a picture Weasley! It's your parents, standing in front of your house, if you call that a house. Your mum could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with anger. Evie could feel her own ears growing hot. To insult the Weasley's lack of money was something they were all used to, but taking actual shots as Mrs. Weasley was an insult Evie could not stand for.

Harry grabbed Ron to hold him back. "What did you just say, Malfoy?" Evie almost whispered.

"Evie, don't." Hermione grabbed her arm.

"Get stuffed Malfoy." Harry scuffed, trying to move their group along. "C'mon guys…"

"Oh, yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you Potter?" Malfoy continued. "So tell me, is his mum really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

Harry gripped the back on Ron's robes to stop him from lunging at Malfoy. Evie's fists clinched and for a second she thought about giving him a repeat of the year before. Hermione had punched him so hard she'd broken his nose. Evie wanted to feel that crunch under her own fist, just for a moment. But Ron struggling to get at Malfoy brought her back to her senses. She grabbed a hold of him and helped Harry and Hermione restrain him as Harry turned calmly to Malfoy.

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Does she always have that expression on, or was it just because you were with her?"

Evie's own anger subsided, and she couldn't hold back her grin as Malfoy's face contorted into one of pure anger. His cheeks even got slightly pink.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Then keep your fat mouth shut." Harry turned and Hermione helped him turn Ron away from Malfoy. Evie was just about to turn to follow them when she saw Malfoy whip his wand out and send a curse flying at Harry. She reached for her wand as well, and just as she'd whipped it out, a second bang was heard throughout the hall.

Evie blinked, before her eyes grew wide as she realized what she had just seen. Where Malfoy had once been standing was now a small, shaking albino ferret.

Hermione turned to see Evie with her and out and her eyes traveled back up to meet Evie's incredulously. "I didn't do that." Evie swore, but the amusement on her face was hard to hide.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" A quick thumping sound came from the stairs and the group turned to see that it had been Professor Moody who'd turned Malfoy into the ferret. He still had his wand out and pointed in its direction, though he headed straight for Harry.

The hall was deathly silent was Moody made his way over to their group. "Did he get you?" Moody asked Harry.

"No, missed." Harry answered, looking a bit in shock at the situation.

"You've got good instincts girl, I saw how quickly your wand came out." Moody trained his good eye on Evie.

"T-thanks." Evie smiled hesitantly, stowing her wand back in her pocket, for fear that if another professor should show they might think she'd turned Malfoy into the ferret he was.

"Leave it!" Moody barked, and Evie froze. "Not you – him." Moody jerked his thumb over his shoulder to where Crabbe had just been about to pick up Malfoy. Moody clunked toward the ferret who, in his terror, began racing off towards the dungeons, but Moody caught him. Then he began bouncing him around, telling him to never attack an opponent while his back was turned again. Evie just watched in a mix of joy and horror as Moody bounced Malfoy higher and higher into the air. He didn't stop until Professor McGonagall forced him to handle the situation like all the other professors did. When Moody had gone, dragging a human again Malfoy behind him, the group made their way into the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table.

"Don't talk to me." Ron said as they all sat down.

"Why not?" Hermione asked. Evie looked at Ron in utter shock. How could anyone be mad still after seeing Malfoy like that? Her heart hadn't even been so light.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," Ron sighed as a smile spread across his face and he closed his eyes. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret…"

The group burst out laughing as they all relived the vivid memory.

"He really could've hurt Malfoy, though." Hermione said as she began doling out beef casserole onto all of their plates. "It was good that Professor McGonagall stopped it –"

"Hermione, you're ruining the best moment of my life!" Ron growled, his eyes snapping open and his smile disappearing.

Hermione scuffed, but said nothing else. Instead she began shoveling food into her mouth once again.

"You're going back to the library this evening?" Harry eyed her in confusion.

""Got to," Hermione answered with her mouth full of food. "Loads to do."

Evie raised an eye brow to this, then made a decision.

"But you said Professor Vector –"

"It's not schoolwork." Hermione answered, then began to get up from the table.

"Wait!" Evie stopped her, spooning one last large bite of casserole into her own mouth. "I'll go with you." She said quickly with her mouth full of food. The two girls got up from the table and waved at Harry and Ron as they rushed off towards the library, Evie still chewing her food.


	11. Chapter 11

By Thursday, Evie was just as antsy as all the other Gryffindor fourth years to get into DADA. They had formed a line outside of the classroom before the bell had even rung. She and Hermione made it just in time for class, as they had been in the library.

Two days ago Evie had finally found out what Hermione was so keen on doing in the library:

"_Knitting? Why d'you want to learn how to knit?" Evie raised an eyebrow at Hermione as the latter girl sat a huge pile of books on the table in front of her. Evie picked up the top one in the pile. On the cover was a picture of a pair of knitting needles and the beginnings of what was possibly a scarf. The picture moved, showing the same line being made over and over again._

"_So I can give the elves clothes, so they can free themselves and start demanding pay and sick days!" _

"_Hermione…" Evie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You do understand that, to them, clothes are a punishment, not a reward?"_

"_They're just scared of being abused! If they are given their freedom and realize they can ask for more…that they deserve more, they will be excited to receive clothes." Hermione explained waving off Evie's disbelieving look._

"_I really don't think this is going to go the way you hope it will…" Evie paused and looked at her friend. "Alright, I'll help. Teach me how to knit."_

Since that day they had been spending a lot of their free time in the library learning to knit, finding patterns for things like small hats and socks. Evie still believed no house elf would take Hermione's clothes, but her friend was so passionate about the cause, she felt the best thing she could do was support her.

The group grabbed the seats right in front of the teacher's desk and readily took out the book for the course, _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_. After a few moments of silence Moody came in and instructed them to put their books away. Well, it was more of a bark than anything, but they listened, shocked as they were that they weren't going to be using their books.

Moody checked his list to make sure everyone was in class; his normal eye moved down the list of names, but his blue eye was rolling around in his head, clearly watching everything going on in the classroom. Once the last student had answered, Moody clasped his hands together and told them all that while Professor Lupin had done well teaching them all about magical creatures, they were behind on curses. "I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark –"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out. Evie tensed for him, not sure how Moody would take the interruption. Ron also looked apprehensive as Moody's magic eye swivelled around to stare at him. His response, however, was quite surprising, albeit relieving. Moody smiled, the most gnarled and awkward smile Evie had ever seen, but a smile none-the-less.

"You're Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Apparently Moody owed Mr. Weasley one for getting him out of a tough spot right before the school year started, and the only reason Moody was here was as a favor to Dumbledore. "One year, then back to my quiet retirement." He laughed as though it was a private joke the rest of the class wouldn't get.

After that he jumped right into the lesson, telling the class that while the Ministry didn't want them learning illegal Dark curses, both he and Dumbledore thought they could handle it and so that's exactly what he was going to be showing them in the very first class of the year. "You'll need to be alert and watchful. You'll need to put that away, Miss. Brown, while I'm talking."

Lavender had been showing Parvati her finished horoscope chart under their table. When she heard her name and realized she'd been caught, she jumped and blushed, mumbling a sorry and focusing back on the class. It seemed Moody's magic eye might be able to see through anything, not just the back of his skull. That thought gave Evie the creeps though.

"So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

One instantly popped into Evie's head, but she kept her hands firmly clasped in her lap. She watched as both Ron and Hermione raised their hands, along with several other tentative people in the room. Moody called on Ron.

"My dad told me about one." Ron said hesitantly. "The Imperius Curse or something?"

"Your dad would know about that one. It gave the Ministry a lot of trouble a while back." Moody reached into his desk and pulled out a jar with three large, black spiders inside. Ron tensed in his seat. Reaching into the jar, Moody got hold of one of the spiders and pulled it out. Holding it in his palm, so all could see, he pointed his wand at it and muttered, "_Imperio_."

The spider responded instantly, leaping from Moody's hand on a thin silk thread and swinging back and forth. Then, at the coaxing of Moody's wand, it hopped from the thread doing a back flip and landed on the desk. Upon landing it immediately began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand once more and the spider rose to its feet and began what was unmistakably a tap dance. At the sight of it the class began to laugh.

"Think it's funny, do you? What if I did it to you?" The laughter died almost instantly. "I have total control. I could make it jump out the window, or drown itself, or maybe throw itself down one of your throats."

Ron gave an involuntary shudder.

Moody began to explain that a while ago, though he didn't say it was during Voldemort's rise to power Evie knew that's when he meant, there were a lot of people who had that curse used on them. The Ministry apparently had a really hard time figuring out who was acting under the curse and who was acting of their own free will. He then told them that it was possible to fight the curse off, but it was hard to do and required a real strength of character. "Better avoid getting hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He barked and the whole class jumped. Then he replaced the spider and pulled out another one. When he asked if anyone else had another illegal curse Neville raised his hand. Evie imagined the whole class might have been shocked by that. "Yes?" Moody eyed him with the magic eye.

"There's one – the Cruciatus Curse." Neville's voice was small and distant as he answered, and Evie knew he wished he hadn't said it. She wished he hadn't either. She never wanted to see that curse.

"Your name Longbottom?" Neville nodded nervously. Moody made no other comment on it, just turned his attention back to the spider, which he enlarged so the whole class could see the effects of the curse. "_Crucio!_"

Instantly the spider began to feel the effect of the curse. Its legs bent in upon its body. It rolled over and began rocking back and forth, twitching uncontrollably. It made no noise, but it was unmistakable that if it could it would be screaming. The longer Moody kept his wand on the spider, the more uncontrollably it began to jerk and shudder.

"Stop…" Evie whispered, her hands clenched in her lap. Her knuckles where white and her body shaking. She turned to Neville, who was sitting right next to her and whose own body had stiffened. His fists where clenched on the table, with knuckles just as white as her own. He was staring at the scene wide-eyed, with an expression of horror etched on his face. Evie turned back to the spider, still withering and jerking…she almost swore she did hear it scream. "Stop…stop…STOP!" She shut her eyes as she finally found the strength to yell.

Moody moved his wand and the spider's legs instantly relaxed, though it still twitched.

"_Reducio._" He said, returning the spider to its original size and placing it back in the jar. "Pain…" Moody said softly. Evie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep herself together. "You don't need thumbscrews to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. That one was very popular once."

Evie's bottom lip quivered as she opened her eyes again. She was sure she wasn't going to cry, but the image of the spider withering in pain was forever burned into her mind. That's what they had done to her mother. That's what had weakened her, nearly driven her mad before they finally decided to kill her; almost kill her. Better to leave her for dead, let her die slowly they thought. As though they hadn't done enough to torture her.

Evie looked at Neville again, still frozen in horror at what he had just seen. As Moody asked for another curse she silently reached over and covered his still clenched fist with her own shaky hand. He looked at her as Hermione told Moody the last curse she knew, the Killing Curse, and Evie knew that Neville had suffered the same way she had. There was a reason Neville was raised by his grandmother, and Evie knew in that moment what that reason was.

They turned back to the lesson, but Evie never took her hand off of Neville's. She had a feeling he needed it there. Moody was pulling the last spider out of the jar. It had apparently seen what had happened to the others because it tried desperately to make a run for it. It didn't get far though. Moody raised his wand and roared, "_Avada Kedavra_!"

After a flash of blinding green light the spider rolled over on its back. There was not a mark on it, but there could be no doubt it was dead. Several students stifled cries. Evie distinctly heard Hermione gasp. Ron pushed so far back in his chair he almost tipped it over. But Harry just sat there. Evie was positive even she had at least jumped at the sight of the curse. But Evie also knew that just as she and Neville had been affected most by seeing the Cruciatus Curse, this was the curse that would affect Harry the most. It was the curse that killed his parents, the curse used to try to kill him; it was hard not to be effected by it.

"There is no counter curse, no blocking it. Only one person has ever survived and I'm looking right at him." Evie grimaced for Harry. He hated being looked at as The Boy Who Lived; she had learned that fairly quickly. He looked as though he was deep in thought, far away from everything that was happening in class, and Evie couldn't blame him.

Moody kept talking, but Evie couldn't really follow him. Beside her, Neville was still in a state of shock. On her other side Harry was also lost in his own mind, and Evie found it easy to drift back into her own musings as well. She had just seen a spider go through the same thing her mother had gone through, the same thing that she in essence had gone through…possibly the very thing that had given her the birthmark or scar on her hip. It had been horrible, and the more she thought about it the easier it was to imagine that spider as her mother, withering and jerking in pain. Had she been worried about herself, or worried about Evie? Had she screamed until her voice gave out? She must have, by the look of the spider, which had yet to recover from the curse; she must have been in unimaginable pain, the sort of pain that... Jumping from her thoughts, Evie realized she didn't want to think about her mother anymore.

"CONSTANT VIGILENCE!" That's what Evie came back into focus on, and it once again made her jump. "Now those three curses you just saw are known as The Unforgivable Curses. Use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn you a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all you need _constant, never-ceasing vigilance_. Get out your quill…copy this down…"

To the relief of probably everyone in the class that was what they spent the rest of their time doing. Nobody dared speak until the bell rang and most of the class hurried to pack up their things. As they exited they were talking excitedly, as though they had just witnessed a spectacular show. Evie packed in a daze, slowly but deliberately. Beside her, Neville had packed quickly and disappeared out the door. She didn't realize how slow she was going until Hermione had urged them all to hurry up and get to Neville, who had only managed to make to a small side passage before returning to his trance-like state of shock.

The four friends walked over to Neville hesitantly. "Neville?" Hermione called his attention to them.

"Oh, hello." He said in an unusually high voice. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm – I'm starving."

"Neville, are you alright?" Hermione asked even more cautiously than before.

"I'm fine." His voice was still unnaturally high. "Interesting dinner – I mean lesson. What's for eating?"

Harry and Ron shared a worried look, and Evie just sighed.

Before anyone could say anything else the distinctive clunk of Moody's staff and wooden leg could be heard coming closer to their little group. They all turned to see what was happening. He looked straight at Neville. "It's alright sonny. Why don't you come up to my office? Come on…we can have a cup a tea…"

Neville didn't look particularly excited about that idea. Moody seemed to ignore his fear, and after asking Harry if he was alright and reminding them that they 'needed to know', he started to pull Neville away from the group. When Neville looked back at them pleadingly, Evie had to say something.

"P-professor!" She called, halting their movements. Neville looked relieved, but what he didn't know was that Evie actually hadn't thought of a way to get him out of the tea, so instead she did the only thing she could to make him feel better. "May I come too?" She gulped hard and hated herself for not having anything else to say, but after a once over by Moody, he seemed to decide there was no harm in letting her go too.

After he let out a grunt that sounded vaguely approving, Evie turned to look at her friends with a forced smile. "I can't let Neville go up there alone. I'll see you all later. Meet you in the library?" She directed to Hermione, who nodded. Then Evie rushed to catch up to Neville and Professor Moody.

* * *

><p>The walk to Moody's office was silent. Evie walked close to Neville, as if to give him some of her strength. When they got to the office, Evie realized how different it was from when Professor Lupin was there last year. Instead of all the magical creatures, there were many devices on small tables and on the walls, and against one wall was a long trunk with seven locks on it. Evie didn't know what the trunk was keeping in, but she didn't like that it required seven locks to do so.<p>

"Take a seat." Evie was beginning to learn that Moody's voice was pretty much always gruff. She looked at Neville and then they both sat in the chairs Moody had just conjured up. "Longbottom, I heard from Professor Sprout you have a knack for Herbology, is that right?"

Evie and Neville both looked shocked at the direction the conversation went. Evie watched Moody, with a sense of hesitant curiosity. "A knack? Neville won't admit it himself, but he's probably the best Herbology student in our whole year." Evie answered, looking at Neville and smiling.

A healthy blush formed on Neville's cheeks and he almost started to deny it before Moody cut him off. He handed them both a cup of tea and then reached into his desk and pulled out a book. The cover read, _Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean_. A smile slowly formed on Evie's lips as she lifted the cup to her mouth. It was a really nice gift for Moody to give to Neville, and a great way for him to try to cheer Neville up, Evie mused as she almost took a sip of her tea. For some reason she paused before doing so and sniffed the liquid before actually drinking some.

"Sniffing for poison?" Moody eyed her.

"N-no, I –"

"It's alright. That's smart. Like I said in class, constant vigilance. You don't know me, I could be an imposter!" Evie and Neville jumped as Moody yelled the last part of his sentence. Then he seemed to remember something. "Diggory…you were with Potter when Malfoy tried to curse him behind his back. You had the quick reflexes." It wasn't really a question, but Evie nodded anyway. "You've got potential. You remind me of my protégé, girl by the name of Tonks." Moody grunted in approval.

"Th-thank you, Professor." Evie smiled, not sure what exactly that meant as she didn't know anyone named Tonks. She did, however, know that being Moody's protégé meant the woman had to be strong and brilliant, and obviously an Auror.

"Now, I know the Cruciatus Curse was hard, for both of you." Moody looked pointedly at Evie who handled it decidedly better than Neville. It appeared as though Moody knew what had happened to her mother; he was an Auror at the time so it only made sense that he would. "But seeing that wasn't to torture you, it was to show you just how dangerous the other side of the fight is. To show you that they have no remorse and won't be kind enough to wait if you aren't ready for a duel. You need to know what's coming." When he said that Evie felt chills down her spine. What did Moody mean, 'what's coming'?

"Yes, Professor." Evie whispered. Neville just nodded.

"Now, go get some dinner or you'll starve." Moody waved them out of the room and the two left quickly, both grateful to be out of that situation.

"I'm not really feeling hungry, are you?" Evie asked Neville. He shook his head, then looked down at the book in his hands.

"You really think Professor Sprout was saying I'm good at Herbology?"

"Are you kidding? Neville, I've never seen anyone with such a knack for plants. The things you figure out about them astounds me." Evie smiled. Neville smiled back at her, and it killed Evie that she felt the need to ask what she did next. "Neville…?" Evie paused, almost losing her nerve. "What did happen to your parents? I mean, I know you live with your gran, but I never really thought to ask why."

There was a long silence as they continued to walk towards the Gryffindor Tower.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Evie rushed out.

"No, it's alright. It might be kind of nice having someone who knows." Neville smiled, but it was forced. "You-Know-Who had a follower called Bellatrix Lestrange. She was one of his most loyal. My parents were fighting against Him and she and a few others came to our house and used that curse to torture them." Neville struggled through his whole story.

"Neville, I'm so sorry." Evie swallowed the lump in her throat. "They did the same thing to my mum." She added. Neville looked at her as they stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Balderdash." Evie said and the portrait swung open.

They climbed into the common room which was empty since everyone was still at dinner. They sat in the chairs in the corner of the room, by the tall window and farthest from the fire. No one ever really sat in that area, it was usually cold in the winter.

"When she was still pregnant with me, my mum was known as a 'Muggle sympathizer'; she wasn't a flat out fighter because she was pregnant, but she would help Muggleborns and Muggles in the small town near our house if they were looking for a safe place to hide or a warm meal as they fled. I guess some Death Eaters found out, because they came to our house while my dad was out with Cedric and tortured her, and then they cut her up and left her for dead. That's how my dad found her." The tears had entered Evie's eyes quite suddenly and she blinked them away just as quickly.

"They didn't kill my parents." Neville said, his eyes also heavy with unshed tears. "They just tortured them mad…and left them."

"Are they still alive?" Evie asked in horrified shock. Neville nodded. "I am sorry Neville."

"Me too." They stayed silent for a long moment before Evie remembered she had promised Hermione that she'd meet her in the library. Perhaps some knitting would actually help take her mind off things.

"I have to go Neville. I promised Hermione I'd meet her in the library. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yep, I think I'll just go to the dorm and look over this book." Neville gestured to it and then waved Evie off when she hesitated. "I'm okay, really. You're a good friend Evie."

"You're a good person, Neville." Evie responded back before leaving him and making her way towards the library.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: **Hey guys, I would just like to start off this chapter with a quick reminded that this is an AU fic, obviously. Cedric never had a little sister in canon and his mother was alive in the books. Anyway, like I said, this is an AU and in it Mrs. Diggory unfortunately did not survive the last Wizarding War. Now, to the story. Enjoy!

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><p>Evie didn't stay as long in the library as she had originally expected to. She had tried to take her mind off of things with Hermione, but it just wasn't helping. After she left though, she also realized that she didn't want to go back to the Gryffindor common rooms. Instead she decided to take a walk.<p>

As she walked aimlessly around the school, Evie bumped into someone. Looking up, she realized that it was none other than Blaise Zabini. He eyed her with a look that was not really disdainful, but was definitely disapproving.

"Diggory." His neatly groomed ebony eye brow rose elegantly up his forehead. His umber skin was, as usual, flawless. Evie wondered for the slightest of seconds whether that was because of genetics or expensive acne creams since his family could certainly afford them. Like most purebloods, Zabini was very well off.

"Look, Zabini, I will take responsibility for bumping into you this one time. I'm sorry, alright? Just save whatever hateful quip you have prepared for another day because I'm really not in the mood for it." Evie rushed out, holding up her hands in surrender and preventing him from saying whatever he had intended to say next.

Zabini's eyes narrowed slightly, though to Evie's surprise, he did not look angry or even annoyed. "You don't seem to be your usual feisty self this evening…"

Evie's eyes widened in shock. A Slytherin was taking notice of her in a not altogether insulting way? And he wasn't just any Slytherin, but Blaise Zabini, best friend of Draco Malfoy, and son of known blood supremacists. To make the situation even more surprising, it seemed as though Zabini had wanted to say something else, possibly ask if she were alright, but stopped himself.

As if coming to his senses, Zabini cleared his throat and straightened himself out. "Glad to see you admitting your fault for once, Diggory. Don't bump into me again." With that, Zabini brushed past her.

Evie stood alone in the corridor for a few minutes, trying to make sense of the confusing encounter. Finally, after deciding that the day as a whole had been too much for her and resolving to spend some time with her brother in the coming weekend, Evie walked back to Gryffindor common rooms with a hurting head and a heavy heart.

Unfortunately, no solace was to be found that day. As soon as she entered the common rooms, Evie saw Ron and Hermione talking quietly together with worried looks on their faces. "What's happened? Where's Harry?" Evie questioned, noticing that the raven haired boy was missing.

"He's finally got a letter from Sirius." Hermione started.

Sighing, Evie walked over to their usual big plush chairs by the fire and settled in to hear everything she had missed while she'd been out walking.

"He's coming back because he says something about signs and Harry's scar hurting might mean something." Ron tried to explain.

"I didn't understand any of that." Evie said, looking at Ron.

"Neither do we." Evie turned to Hermione for help.

"Let me try, Ron." She patted him on the shoulder. "He told Harry that there have been signs, and that Dumbledore pulled Professor Moody out of retirement because he had also been noticing the signs. Then he told Harry that his scar hurting was just the latest of these signs and that he was coming back because of it."

"And now Harry is upset because if Sirius comes back he might get caught." Evie guessed. After receiving nods from both of her friends, Evie sat back in her chair and sighed. Closing her eyes in exhaustion, she wondered when the day would be over. "This has been too much, emotionally, for me today." She mumbled in a barely audible voice, but Hermione and Ron had both heard her. Hermione placed a gentle hand on her knee and Ron just sighed. Both of them knew how much of a toll their Defense lesson had taken on her, no matter how well she hid it.

"Let's get to bed, we've still got classes tomorrow and it's getting late." Hermione said.

Evie opened her eyes and looked out the window; the sky was an inky black. After saying goodnight to Ron, the two girls climbed the stairs to their dorm and got ready for bed. Once they were settled under their blankets and the calm breathing of their other roommates could be heard, Evie dared to tell Hermione about her strange encounter with Zabini.

"That is unusual. Did he say anything else?" Hermione asked after Evie finished telling her the story.

"No…but it seemed almost like he wanted to."

"Well, he is the least talkative of Malfoy's friends. Isn't he like his best friend?"

"I have heard they are quite close, yes." Evie was biting her lip, pondering the weird situation.

"Maybe he's just very observant." Hermione yawned.

"Maybe…I wonder what he wanted to say though."

"Well, whatever it was, just be glad he was kind enough not to. He's still a Slytherin after all; he probably had something horrid prepared."

"If so, that still makes it weird that he would honor my request, doesn't it?"

"Mmmm." Hermione was beginning to fall asleep so Evie let the subject fall.

"Goodnight, Hermione." Evie yawned, finally realizing how tired she was.

"Night…Eve…" Hermione was out before she even finished Evie's name. Evie smiled at her friend. Just before she dozed off she reminded herself to ask if Hermione had told Harry and Ron about S.P.E.W in the morning, having forgotten to do so after the news of Harry's long awaited letter.

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><p>The next morning Evie woke up still feeling tired. Her eyelids were heavy as she dressed for the day. It was because of her hazy brain that she barely remembered, as she pulled up her grey knee highs, to ask Hermione about what progress she'd made with the elfish welfare group. "Hermione?" Evie yawned as she called her friend's attention to her.<p>

"Hmm?" Hermione looked up from putting on her shoes.

"Did you get around telling Harry and Ron about S.P.E.W yesterday?"

"Oh!" Hermione instantly perked up at the mention of it. "Yes, I did! They agreed to be a part of it too, isn't that great?"

"Yeah." Evie smiled, though she was having a hard time believing they were as excited to be members of S.P.E.W as Hermione was making it seem.

"Now all I've got to do is get them to stop calling it _spew_ and we're really in business." Evie couldn't help the laugh that came out at that, but with a glare from Hermione her laugh died quickly.

"Sorry." She grinned, then quickly put on her shoes so they could get down to breakfast.

At breakfast Harry told the group that he had written to Sirius that morning and told him he'd probably just imagined his scar hurting and that there was no need for him to come back. When he turned to Evie to fill her in she assured him that Ron and Hermione had already done so.

"That was a lie Harry." Hermione fussed, making it clear that she did not agree with him telling Sirius that his scar hadn't really hurt.

"Hermione's right. Aren't you the least bit curious about why your scar hurt? Maybe Sirius has some answers." Evie reasoned.

"Well, I don't want them if it means he risks going back to Azkaban." Harry stated with finality.

Hermione started to say something else but Ron stopped her, and for once, she listened to him.

They spent the rest of breakfast in relative silence. Evie finished her food early and went to catch her brother before he started off to his first class.

"Hey." He greeted her, looking as though he were trying to gauge her emotional state.

"Hey…why are you looking at me like that?" Evie raised an eyebrow at Cedric.

"You weren't at dinner last night and Ron told me you guys had your first Defense class yesterday."

"So you've already had your class then?"

"Yeah, it was very intense. I didn't know your class was yesterday. I was planning on warning you this morning…" Cedric trailed off.

"That's alright. Are you busy this weekend?"

"Just hanging out with the mates as usual, but I can always make time for my favorite little sister." Cedric smiled jokingly.

"You mean your only little sister? Unless there's another one running around here I should be worried about?"

Cedric laughed. "No, you're my one and only. But that doesn't mean you can't also be my favorite."

"Keep talking, you're doing a really good job of making me feel better."

"That was the aim. So, are you coming to see me tomorrow or Sunday?"

"Sunday, I think."

"Alright, good. I have plans on Saturday."

"Well, now I sort of want to change my answer to Saturday just to make you cancel them." Evie grinned.

"Please don't." The hint of seriousness in Cedric's voice gave Evie pause.

"Wait…does this have anything to do with a certain Ravenclaw?" Evie asked eagerly. Cedric didn't respond, but a healthy blush formed on his cheeks. "Oh Merlin, I'm right, aren't I?" Evie's own worries and confusion disappeared at the new information she received.

"Shut it!" Cedric shushed quickly, the blush never leaving his cheeks. "You're going to get the whole Hufflepuff table looking this way."

"So, are you snogging her? Wait, never mind, please don't answer that." Evie scrunched her nose and tried to wipe the mental image away. "Are you together? Or are you still waiting to ask her? Did you give her the gift?" Evie spewed out all of her questions quickly.

"Not snogging her and you shouldn't be asking anyone that question." Cedric chastised. "We aren't together, yet. That's what Saturday is for. I'm taking her on a picnic by the lake; I'm going to give her the necklace then and ask her."

"Aw, Cedric, you are just a hopeless romantic." Evie cooed teasingly, but after a glare from Cedric she turned serious. "I'm sure she'll love it."

Before Cedric could say anything else, the bell rang to signal it was time to get to class.

"See you Sunday." Cedric smiled and rushed off towards class.

Evie looked back towards the Gryffindor table to see her friends waiting for her. They had History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs that morning. She rushed over to them, taking her bag from Harry who had picked it up for her. Then they all rushed off towards the HoM classroom.

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><p>Evie walked into HoM feeling quite a bit better than she had the day before. If she were being honest with herself, she was really happy to be in a class where she was confident she would do well. While History wasn't her favorite subject, and unfortunately Professor Binns was dreadfully boring to listen to, as long as she read up on everything she did just fine in the class.<p>

However, she also had Charms that day, and Charms had been one of her two best subjects since her first year. The other being Tranfigurations, and while Evie wasn't particularly bad in many other subjects, except perhaps Divinations and her current struggle in Arithmancy, she was not the top preforming student in every subject. She usually ended up behind Hermione, or even Malfoy, depending on the subject, and in Herbology she was behind Neville and quite a few Hufflepuffs, who had a tendency to be fond of the class. Evie assumed it was because of all the fascinating plants Professor Sprout decorated the Hufflepuff common rooms with.

Sitting in her usual seat, Evie tried to pay attention as Professor Binns continued their lesson on the Goblin Rebellion. As the time ticked by, seemingly slower and slower by the minute, Evie tried her hardest to stay as focused on the lesson as Hermione was. But beside her Harry and Ron seemed to be dosing off and while she could never bring herself to sleep in class, the idea of a nice daydream seemed much more appealing than listening to Binns.

Letting her mind wander, Evie found herself once again pondering on her curious encounter with Zabini. She would see him in Potions later, as Gryffindor was always stuck with Slytherin in Potions, though Evie never understood why. She wondered if he would be his normal self again, if perhaps their encounter was just because nobody else was around. She also wondered why she cared to figure it out so much, though that answer came to her quickly in all its obviousness; she liked having answers to questions, and Zabini had just become a huge question she very much wanted an answer to.

"Evie." Hermione's voice snapped her back to attention. When she looked at her best friend she realized she was about to be scolded. "Honestly, you're just as bad as the boys. How could you drift off with such a fascinating lesson going on?"

"Because Professor Binns has possibly the most boring voice ever created. He is the most boring ghost in this entire castle." Evie looked at Hermione matter-of-factly. When she didn't get a laugh, Evie tried a different approach. "I'll read over everything I missed after classes, alright? I just got distracted thinking about everything that happened yesterday."

At that Hermione stopped scolding her. Evie felt a little bad for using her bad day to get a free pass from Hermione, especially since she knew that all of the scolding she received from her best friend was really for her own good; however, she also hated be scolded, so she didn't feel nearly as bad as she probably should have.


End file.
